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Materials Chemistry Lab
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The lab creates new materials by controlling how molecules in mixtures assemble and separate.
AboutAbout the lab
Harnessing molecular information to create new functions
The Materials Chemistry Lab studies how to create materials with new functions from systems in which multiple compounds are mixed.
Rather than working with a single pure compound, the lab focuses on the functions, structures, and reactions that arise precisely because compounds are mixed.
By controlling how compounds assemble and separate, the lab builds different structures and lets them exchange matter and energy.
The lab designs stimuli-responsive materials, such as polymers that absorb large amounts of oil and polymers whose solubility changes with temperature.
Key terms
- Polymer
- A large molecule made of many small molecules linked together. The basis of plastics and rubber
- Ligand
- A molecule or ion that binds to a metal ion and surrounds it
- Phase transition
- A sudden change of state, such as dissolving or not dissolving, when conditions such as temperature change
NewsLab news
A student received the Excellent On-Demand Presentation Award at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan
A master's student received the Excellent Poster Award at the Symposium on Macromolecules
A master's student received the Excellent Presentation Award at the Summer Research Presentation Meeting of the Hokkaido Branch of the Chemical Society of Japan
A doctoral student received the Student Presentation Award at the Spring Annual Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan
A master's student received the Excellent Poster Award at the Hokkaido Branch Research Presentation Meeting
ResearchResearch themes
In a mixture of multiple compounds, functions, structures, and reactions arise that none of the compounds can show alone. By skillfully controlling how compounds assemble and separate to build different structures, the lab aims to develop new functional materials.
*Illustrative imageOil-Absorbing Polyelectrolytes
Polyelectrolytes have long been thought to work only in highly polar solvents such as water. The lab incorporates ion pairs that dissociate even in nonpolar environments into polymer chains, designing and synthesizing lipophilic polyelectrolytes that work in oil. Resins made by crosslinking them absorb large amounts of organic solvents and are expected to be useful for recovering volatile organic compounds and spilled oil.
*Illustrative imagePost-Synthetic Modification of MOFs
MOFs (Metal-Organic Frameworks) are porous materials made of organic ligands and metal ions, and their pores can be freely designed by changing the structure and connectivity of the ligands. The lab proposes and studies a method in which a MOF is first built from ligands carrying azide groups, and then targeted functional groups and structures are introduced afterward by click chemistry.
*Illustrative imagePolymer Gels Using MOFs as Templates
By using the nanosized pores of a MOF and linking its organic ligands to each other with an externally added crosslinker, a single crystal can be converted entirely into a polymer gel. Controlling the shape and size of the MOF crystal also controls the shape and size of the resulting gel, making it possible to design polymer gels in nano- to micro-scale polyhedral shapes.
*Illustrative imagePolymers Whose Solubility Changes with Temperature
LCST-type phase transitions, in which the shape of a polymer changes as temperature rises and the polymer suddenly becomes insoluble, are difficult to design at the molecular level and have rarely been studied outside aqueous systems. By adding an effector that partially disrupts the interactions between the functional groups of the polymer, making a three-component system of solvent, polymer, and effector, the lab has clarified molecular designs that cause LCST-type phase separation in a variety of media and at various temperatures.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Materials Chemistry Lab are faculty and students at the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate levels.As of 2026
- Project ProfessorKazuki Sada
- Assistant ProfessorKeitaro Matsuoka
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Gel balls” Renato Lombardero / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Oil-Absorbing Polyelectrolytes: “Superabsorber Hydrogel KSG 2917 pK” Petra Klawikowski / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Post-Synthetic Modification of MOFs: “Nano-Legos” Snemani2023 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Polymer Gels Using MOFs as Templates: “MIL-68 structure” Canucksplayer (talk) / Public domain (cropped)
- Polymers Whose Solubility Changes with Temperature: “Picture of peptide hydrogel formation shown by the inverted vial method” Hutchinson Jessica / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Physical Chemistry Lab): “Nanoscale Plasmonic Resonator Structures ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Solid State Chemistry Lab): “Ferroelectric liquid crystal image from a polarizing microscope” Ingo Dierking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Structural Chemistry Lab): “Human Oxy-Hemoglobin Protein” PDB code 2DN1 1.25 a resolution crystal structures of human haemoglobin in the oxy, deoxy and carbonmonoxy forms. Park, S.-Y., Yokoyama, T., Shibayama, N., Shiro, Y., Tame, J.R. (2006) J Mol Biol 360: 690-701 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb. Image created using JSmol (Javascript) / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Organic Reaction Theory Lab): “Lab on a Chip ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
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