Ding was born in March 1966 in Yongcheng, Henan, China.

[2] In December 1998, he became a research professor at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry.

In October 2018, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

[4] Ding's research interests are asymmetric catalysis and organometallics.

He developed multiple chiral phosphine ligands that have been produced by chemical companies.