Division of Applied Chemistry,
Graduate School of Engineering,
Osaka University

We have been studying organic electronic materials and their application to electronic devices such as organic light-emitting diodes, organic thin-film transistors and organic solar cells. We intend to develop new concept devices by understanding fundamental properties of organic materials. This interdisciplinary field includes a wide range of academic area from organic chemistry for designing one molecule to physical chemistry for understanding solid state properties, and device physics based on semiconductor engineering for improving performances.

Nature has created exotic biological systems with effective and selective functionality by adapting reversible intermolecular interaction such as hydrogen bond. Such systems inspire us to construct artificial functional materials beyond Nature by using well-designed intermolecular interactions. Our research includes the following four phases: (1) Design and synthesis of functional organic compounds capable of self-assembling in desired crystalline state. (2) Structural characterization of the crystals and precise identification of intermolecular interactions. (3) Control of molecular arrangements. (4) Development of new functional materials with significant optical and electrical properties provided by self-assembled architectures.

Chemical biology is an interdisciplinary research field, which focuses on elucidation of biological phenomena by utilizing "chemical tools". These chemical tools are developed by the combinatorial use of organic chemistry, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering. In our group, we design and synthesize novel fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probes that are applied to answer various biological questions. The representative examples of our chemical tools are fluorescence probes for detection of protein localization and enzymatic activity and MRI probes for in vivo imaging of cancer and gene expression. We develop new tools to give new findings that are not verified by conventional biological methods. By using these tools, we are currently studying various biological fields such as epigenetics, immunology, and cancer biology.

Chemical biology is an interdisciplinary research field, which focuses on elucidation of biological phenomena by utilizing "chemical tools". These chemical tools are developed by the combinatorial use of organic chemistry, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering. In our group, we design and synthesize novel fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probes that are applied to answer various biological questions. The representative examples of our chemical tools are fluorescence probes for detection of protein localization and enzymatic activity and MRI probes for in vivo imaging of cancer and gene expression. We develop new tools to give new findings that are not verified by conventional biological methods. By using these tools, we are currently studying various biological fields such as epigenetics, immunology, and cancer biology.