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Yamamoto Lab
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A lab that develops environmentally friendly synthetic methods and uses them for the precise synthesis of bioactive compounds.
AboutAbout the lab
Precision synthesis with catalysts inspired by enzymes.
The Yamamoto Lab develops synthetic methods with a small environmental burden and uses them to synthesize bioactive compounds.
The lab tackles a range of challenges in precision organic synthesis, such as building methodologies that make synthesis more efficient and developing synthetic routes.
Its goals are synthetic methods that change how syntheses are designed, and environmentally friendly catalysts that, like enzymes, have high selectivity and reactivity.
The lab also synthesizes bioactive compounds using the catalysts it has developed, and synthesizes analogs with a view to applications in drug discovery.
Key terms
- Catalyst
- A substance that makes a chemical reaction proceed more easily without being changed itself. A small amount works repeatedly
- Stereoselectivity
- The degree to which only the desired one of two mirror-image forms is produced
- Coenzyme
- A small molecule that is essential for an enzyme to drive a reaction, working as a partner of the enzyme
ResearchResearch themes
Creating catalysts that have a low environmental burden and high efficiency is one of the important goals for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The lab works on developing reactions that use coenzymes, which are key to enzymatic reactions, particularly flavin derivatives.
*Illustrative imageAsymmetric oxidation with flavin derivatives
The lab found that when a flavin derivative and a cinchona alkaloid, an optically active natural product, self-assemble in solution, the Baeyer-Villiger reaction, a type of oxidation reaction, proceeds with high stereoselectivity. Recently, it has identified the rate-determining step and the factors involved in asymmetry, and has been expanding the range of usable substrates.
*Illustrative imageAsymmetric oxidation of phosphorus atoms
Compounds in which the three substituents on phosphorus are all different are called P-chiral compounds, and are widely used as ligands for metal catalysts, as organocatalysts, and as active pharmaceutical ingredients of marketed drugs. The lab found that flavin derivatives also catalyze the oxidation of phosphorus, and aims to develop this into an asymmetric oxidation reaction.
*Illustrative imageNucleic acids with asymmetrically modified phosphorus
Nucleic acid drugs use P-chiral modified nucleic acids, in which a hydroxyl group at the phosphate moiety is replaced with another functional group, and the stereochemistry of phosphorus greatly affects bioactivity. The lab develops synthetic methods that focus on two points: creating the stereogenic center with a catalyst, and keeping the number of steps needed to elongate the nucleic acid short.
*Illustrative imageSynthesis of bioactive natural products
Since 2022, the lab has also started synthetic research targeting bioactive natural products. Through collaborative research, it also aims to discover the mechanisms by which their bioactivity works.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Yamamoto Lab consist of faculty and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- Associate ProfessorKana Yamamoto
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Fluorescence of Riboflavin in Water” Ksenia Kandurova, Yurii Kandurov, Dmitry Stavtsev / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Asymmetric oxidation with flavin derivatives: “Cinchona officinalis 001” H. Zell / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Asymmetric oxidation of phosphorus atoms: “Sinistral x dextral Limicolaria martensiana” Jxd / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Nucleic acids with asymmetrically modified phosphorus: “20251019 Replica DNA double helix model Berlin 03” Flocci Nivis / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Synthesis of bioactive natural products: “Nootkatone recrystallized” AmosZoeller / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakata Lab): “Ship in a bottle - geograph.org.uk - 2273412” Steve Fareham / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Koide Lab): “1K6F Crystal Structure Of The Collagen Triple Helix Model Pro- Pro-Gly103 04” Nevit Dilmen / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kanomata Lab): “Ring van Möbius - Hans Kalkhoven” Alex P. Kok / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Shibata Lab): “Three Schlenk flasks” Ichwarsnur / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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