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Matsuda Lab
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The lab develops environmentally friendly organic synthesis using enzymes and carbon dioxide.
AboutAbout the lab
Greener organic synthesis, powered by enzymes.
The Matsuda Lab aims to make organic synthesis environmentally friendly, and develops reactions that use enzymes as catalysts.
Organic synthesis is an essential method for making pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, and catalysts are indispensable to it.
The lab also studies ways to put carbon dioxide and atmospheric oxygen to effective use as reaction solvents and reactants.
Its goal is to develop safe reactions that advance the chemical industry while protecting the global environment.
Key terms
- Green chemistry
- An approach to synthetic chemistry in which processes are designed to minimize their burden on the environment
- Enzyme
- A protein catalyst made by living organisms. It carries out only specific reactions under mild conditions
- Optically active compound
- One of a pair of molecules that are mirror images of each other, like a right hand and a left hand, isolated on its own
NewsLab news
A research fellow received the 32nd Dr. Izumi Kamada Doctoral Thesis Award
A master's student received an Outstanding Poster Award at the 92nd Lecture Meeting of the Enzyme Engineering Research Group
A lab member received a Poster Award at the Symposium on Biocatalytic Chemistry
A master's student received the 26th Osumi Journal Award
ResearchResearch themes
To advance industry sustainably while protecting the global environment, the lab works on green chemistry in organic synthesis. It develops a variety of organic synthesis reactions that use enzymes as catalysts, because enzyme reactions are highly selective and proceed at ambient temperature and pressure.
*Illustrative imageEnzyme reactions using carbon dioxide as a solvent
Carbon dioxide is inexpensive and safe, and under high pressure it can serve as a solvent for enzyme reactions. The lab has lipase work in a bio-based solvent expanded in volume by dissolved carbon dioxide, and uses this to synthesize optically active compounds that serve as raw materials for pharmaceuticals.
*Illustrative imageReactions using carbon dioxide as a reactant
The lab works on reactions that use carbon dioxide as a reactant to attach a carboxyl group to a molecule. It has succeeded in building a reaction in a biphasic system of water and high-pressure carbon dioxide, and is now investigating reactions that use a wider range of enzymes.
*Illustrative imageOxidation using oxygen from the air
Baeyer-Villiger oxidation, which converts ketones into esters, has so far relied on explosive reagents. The lab found that an enzyme from a microorganism discovered in soil allows oxygen in the air to be used instead.
*Illustrative imageSafe oxidation of aldehydes
Oxidizing aldehydes to carboxylic acids generally requires harsh reagents such as chromium compounds, which raise problems of explosiveness and toxicity. The lab carries out this oxidation with enzymes that do not burden the environment.
MembersFaculty
The Matsuda Lab consists of faculty members, research fellows, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and technical staff.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorTomoko MatsudaPublications ↗
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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: “Diacylglycerol lipase α (via AlphaFold2, ColabFold, and PyMol)” Zhazhir / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Enzyme reactions using carbon dioxide as a solvent: “Dry-ice-09560” Nevit / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Reactions using carbon dioxide as a reactant: “Carbon dioxide 3D ball” Jynto / CC0 (cropped)
- Oxidation using oxygen from the air: “Culture soil fungus Fusarium sp. with purple color” Tashkoskip / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Safe oxidation of aldehydes: “Tetramer with NAD surface” WestSummer / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Hata Lab): “Rotary evaporator 2” Adimora chidinma / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakamura-Okada Lab): “Boron neutron capture therapy (bnct) illustration” Pat Kenny (Illustrator) / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kawai Lab): “Fluorescent minerals hg” Hannes Grobe/AWI / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yatsunami Lab): “Salin de Gruissan (Ifremer )” Isabelle Cheret / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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