Creation of New Organic Materials
Research interests in this division mainly span three areas of synthetic organic chemistry in view of the creation of organic materials that show useful chemical, physical, or biological functions. The first area concerns the development of new synthetic methods. A central research activity is the discovery and design of practical organic reactions realizing carbon-carbon bond formation, oxidation, reduction, and functional group transformation with a perfect control of relative and absolute stereochemistry. Endeavors are directed particularly toward the establishment of selective catalytic systems that are environmentally benign and energy- and resourse-saving. Activation of H2, O2, CO2, and CH4 is also an important component of this work. The focus of the second area is on the mechanistic understanding of functional expression at the molecular level. The origin of high activity and selectivity is thoroughly pursued thorough kinetic studies，structural characterizations by spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction methods, theoretical calculations, etc., to redesign and fine-tune the target molecules. The third area includes the application of new methodologies to the strategical synthesis of natural and non-natural products. These cover small organic and organometallic compounds, polymers and molecular assemblies, which act as catalysts, conductors, nonlinear optics, magnetic materials, medical and pharmacological products, agricultural chemicals, perfumes, etc. We will positively tackle the global issues of health, food, environment, and energy by creation of new organic functional materials through integration of the results from the three basic research areas mentioned.