LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Otsuka Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab rearranges bonds to create materials that heal their own damage and materials that change color under force.
AboutAbout the lab
Making materials smarter by rearranging bonds.
The Otsuka Lab studies the design of functional polymers and the development of new materials using polymer reactions based on new ideas and concepts.
"Polymer reactions," in which a polymer is used as the starting material and its bonds are rearranged, form a field whose academic development has lagged behind research on synthetic methods.
By building dynamic covalent bonds that break and re-form into the polymer backbone, the lab makes it possible to change the shape and properties of polymers after polymerization.
This has produced self-healing materials that repair damage on their own, and materials whose color or fluorescence changes when force is applied.
Key terms
- Polymer
- A large molecule formed by linking many small molecules together. The main component of plastics and rubber.
- Dynamic covalent bond
- Unlike an ordinary covalent bond, a bond that can repeatedly break and re-form in response to heat, light, or force.
- Mechanochromism
- The property of changing color when force is applied. Radicals and other species formed when molecules break are the source of the color.
NewsLab news
Paper on water-curing polymers containing a silatrane skeleton published in Angew. Chem.
Press release, jointly with Chiba University, on a tough elastomer created by designing its "fragility"
Paper from a collaboration with Stanford University in the US published in Angew. Chem.
Press release on a new technology that adds a "light up under force" function to existing polymer materials
Master's student receives Excellent Presentation Award at the Young Researchers' Exchange Symposium of the Adhesion Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
The lab works on polymer reactions based on dynamic covalent chemistry and on the design of mechanofunctional polymers that respond to force. Starting from the simple mechanisms of covalent bond cleavage, recombination, and exchange, its research extends from the molecular level to the material level.
*Illustrative imageFreely changing polymer architecture
By incorporating dynamic covalent bonds that rearrange via radicals into polymer backbones, the lab has made it possible to change molecular weight, end groups, composition, and architecture (linear, star-shaped, or cyclic) through bond exchange. Reactions have been confirmed to proceed not only in organic solvents but also in aqueous systems, under solvent-free conditions, and on the surfaces of inorganic materials.
*Illustrative imageMaking polymers that could not be made before
The lab focused on the fact that carbon-carbon double bonds behave as dynamic covalent bonds in the presence of an olefin metathesis catalyst. By exchanging the main chains of polymers made by entirely different polymerization methods, it has easily synthesized copolymers composed of polyester and polybutadiene.
*Illustrative imagePolymers that heal themselves
When the DABBF skeleton, whose bonds rearrange without any external stimulus, is incorporated into a crosslinked polymer, the material self-heals at room temperature in air. Simply placing cut surfaces together restores more than 95% of the original mechanical properties, and with the BiTEMPS skeleton, which rearranges on heating, the material can also be remolded.
*Illustrative imagePolymers that change color under force
DABBF breaks under force to form radicals and turns blue. A polyurethane film incorporating this skeleton shows mechanochromism, becoming colored when stretched, and returns to its original color when left at room temperature. By using fluorescent TASN derivatives, even the tiny forces applied when a polymer crystallizes can be visualized.
MembersFaculty
The Otsuka Lab consists of faculty members and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorHideyuki OtsukaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorAkira TakahashiPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
On a 4-point scale, ● marks where students' answers fall
Who is this lab for?
What's great about this lab?
What did you learn after joining?
What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
Where do graduates go?
RelatedLabs similar to Otsuka Lab
Tokita LabSchool of Materials and Chemical Technology, Department of Chemical Science and EngineeringPolymer structure, polymer physical properties, polymer liqu…
Fukushima-Shoji LabSchool of Materials and Chemical Technology, Department of Chemical Science and EngineeringOrganic chemistry, polymer chemistry, supramolecular chemist…
Nakazono LabSchool of Materials and Chemical Technology, Department of Chemical Science and EngineeringSupramolecular chemistry, polymer synthesis, structural orga…
Hayashi LabSchool of Materials and Chemical Technology, Department of Chemical Science and EngineeringBond exchange, functional polymers, vitrimers, and polymer d…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “Test d'usure d'élastomère (Ifremer )” Stephane Lesbats / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Freely changing polymer architecture: “Single Polymer Chains AFM” Yurko / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Making polymers that could not be made before: “Polybutadiene rubber 02” Vis M / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Polymers that heal themselves: “Hidrogela egoera solidoan” Lialore / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Polymers that change color under force: “Triboluminescence of L-Nicotin salicylat” H. Hiller 03:41, 10. Jan. 2012 (CET) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (戸木田研究室): “Liquid crystal smectic texture” Alexprague / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (福島・庄子研究室): “Emerging geometry in life building blocks” FedeCaimi / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (中薗研究室): “B-cyclodextrin” Materialscientist / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (林研究室): “A Problem with Polymer Theory” OLCF / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.