Research theme

Since a carbon atom is tetravalent (has four "hands" that form a bond with an adjacent atom), if it is bonded to four different atomic groups, the compound is "inside out" in the mirror. There are related enantiomers. A compound having such a mirror image isomer is called a chiral molecule, and its central carbon is called an asymmetric carbon atom. Since the living body is a highly organized asymmetric field, both enantiomers of chiral compounds are strictly discriminated in the living body. Therefore, when developing an efficient drug with few side effects, it is one of the extremely important issues to purely synthesize only the target enantiomer. There are several ways to achieve this, but the most efficient method is considered to be “asymmetric synthesis”.
We are conducting the following research centered on the development of new asymmetric synthetic reactions.