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Yoshizawa-Sawada Lab
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The lab studies supramolecular chemistry, designing nanospaces that work in water.
AboutAbout the lab
Handy nano-tools that work in water.
The Yoshizawa-Sawada Lab, based on supramolecular chemistry, aims to develop "handy nano-tools" that can be used in water.
In living organisms, small spaces formed by proteins carry out highly selective molecular recognition and molecular transformation in water under mild conditions.
The lab aims to build artificial nanospaces that rival these, opening new directions in synthetic chemistry, materials chemistry, and analytical chemistry.
Recently, the lab has also begun studying "peptide spaces" that combine rigid synthetic parts with soft biological parts.
Key terms
- Supramolecular chemistry
- Chemistry that deals with the larger structures formed when molecules assemble through weak forces, and with their functions.
- Aromatic ring
- A stable structure, like benzene, in which carbon atoms form a ring with delocalized electrons. It takes a flat, plate-like shape.
- Molecular capsule
- A container with a cavity inside, formed by the assembly of several molecules. It can take in other molecules.
NewsLab news
Master's student wins Poster Award at the 76th Conference of the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry
Master's student wins Poster Award at the 36th Symposium on Basic Organic Chemistry
Paper on gathering dyes in water with aromatic capsules, jointly with Ritsumeikan University, published in JACS Au
Paper on luminescence and circularly polarized luminescence of chiral aromatic capsules published in Angew. Chem.
Paper on an international collaboration on the thermoelectric performance of molecular junctions published in Nano Lett.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab develops "nano-tools" usable in water by exploiting nanospaces formed by aromatic rings and peptides. It artificially fabricates nanospaces that rival biological systems, aiming for new developments in synthetic chemistry, materials chemistry, physical chemistry, and analytical chemistry.
*Illustrative imageNanospaces built from aromatic rings
The lab aims to freely build three-dimensional structures with nanospaces surrounded by multiple aromatic panels. It designs simple, easy-to-synthesize curved aromatic components and assembles them through different bonds and interactions to make water-soluble molecular capsules and tubes.
*Illustrative imageMolecular properties that change inside the space
Inside aromatic nanospaces, properties appear that differ from those in ordinary solutions or solids. A highly reactive radical initiator became stable when confined, through the effects of light and compression, and encapsulating two dyes together allowed the fluorescence color to be changed without chemical modification.
*Illustrative imageRecognizing biomolecules
The lab works on sensing, in which biomolecules are selectively captured inside nanospaces. In water at room temperature, it captured only sucrose from a mixture of natural sugars with 100% selectivity, and also succeeded in discriminating testosterone, a male sex hormone, and detecting it with highly sensitive fluorescence.
*Illustrative imageReactions in nanoflasks
This research uses nanospaces as "nanoflasks." Two cyclic sulfur molecules were confined together and irradiated with light to selectively synthesize a macrocyclic molecule. When a water-insoluble manganese complex is placed in a capsule, an oxidation reaction with a high turnover number proceeds in water at room temperature.
MembersFaculty
The Yoshizawa-Sawada Lab consists of faculty members, researchers, secretaries, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMichito YoshizawaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorTomohisa SawadaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorLorenzo CattiPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorYuya TanakaPublications ↗
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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: “WLA Method Coordination Cages” Nanorexray / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Nanospaces built from aromatic rings: “Cycloparaphenylene-3D-spacefill” Jynto (talk) / CC0 (cropped)
- Molecular properties that change inside the space: “Cucurbit(6)uril-(side)-3D-balls” Jynto (talk) / CC0 (cropped)
- Recognizing biomolecules: “Sucrose crystals” Nachovfranco / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Reactions in nanoflasks: “Photochemical immersion well reactor 750 mL” Masohe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Okochi Lab): “Alpha endorphin stick molecular model” Mplanine / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakajima-Liang Lab): “Nanobouillon ( )” UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences from London, UK / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Takao Lab): “Ruthenium crystals” Periodictableru / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Tanaka Lab): “Gold Nanoparticles' aggregation” Nadiia Honcharenko / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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