Research
Welcome to our research page!
New concepts and strategies in organic chemistry are necessary to address the increasingly complex synthetic problems presented by research in contemporary natural products, biological, and organic materials. Our research group aims to discover and develop novel reaction strategies, which will enable access to versatile reactive intermediates for the mild and sustainable synthesis of useful molecular scaffolds. We are particularly interested in developing innovative new methodologies by harnessing the power of ring strain and the high reactivity of carbenes.
Ring-strain-driven Reaction Discovery
Ring strain is a powerful driving force in chemical reactions, which promotes reactivity by releasing strain, allowing the facile construction of a multitude of valuable scaffolds. We aim to explore the versatility of strain release to design fundamentally new reactions in organic synthesis.
Synthesis and Applications of New Carbenes
The chemistry of diazo compounds as carbene precursors has been widely studied and has found a wide range of applications in organic synthesis and transition metal catalysis. However, only a few diazo precursors are known in the literature. We aim to develop new diazo precursors, especially those with versatile synthetic handles, and employ them in organic synthesis for the late-stage diversification of privileged molecules.
Deconstructive Functionalization
Direct methods for creating new chemical bonds (C-C and C-X) are effective tools for synthesis. However, these methods are occasionally insufficient to discover or diversify novel compounds with desirable properties. We are interested in developing deconstructive strategies to transform readily available cyclic compounds into functionalized acyclic structures.