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Supramolecular Design Lab
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The lab builds new molecular assemblies by harnessing the power of metal ions and organic molecules to assemble spontaneously.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating things through molecules' power to assemble themselves.
The Sakata Lab uses the properties of metal ions to create new molecular assemblies (supramolecules).
Focusing on metal coordination bonds formed between metal ions and organic molecules, the lab builds things through self-assembly, the force by which atoms and molecules naturally come together.
With this approach, complex ring- and cage-shaped structures that are difficult to make by ordinary synthesis can be made easily.
It is a new lab, established in April 2024.
Key terms
- Supramolecule
- A large, unified structure formed by multiple molecules coming together through forces weaker than covalent bonds
- Metal coordination bond
- A bond in which a metal ion and an organic molecule are linked through electrons. The bond easily forms and breaks
- Self-assembly
- A phenomenon in which molecules come together on their own to form a defined shape, without anyone assembling them piece by piece
NewsLab news
Assistant Professor Saito received the Inoue Research Encouragement Award (Inoue Foundation for Science)
A master's student won a Poster Award at the 75th Symposium on Coordination Chemistry of Japan
A paper by Assistant Professor Saito et al. was published in Nature Nanotechnology
A paper by Professor Sakata et al. was published in Communications Chemistry
The Sakata Lab of the Supramolecular Design Group was established
ResearchResearch themes
Focusing on metal coordination bonds formed between metal ions and organic molecules, the lab builds things using the force by which atoms and molecules naturally come together. It also aims to develop reactions that use the space inside the resulting assemblies to take in only specific substances or to convert them.
View More ↗MembersFaculty
The Sakata Lab consists of faculty, technical assistants, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorYoko Sakata
- Assistant ProfessorTakuho Saito
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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: “Photoluminescent rhodium coordination complex crystals under UV light” RhAgchem / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (構造機能化学研究グループ): “4,4'-Diaminodiphenyl Ether-3D-molecular-model-engraved-render-CAS-101-80-4” MolGod Scientific / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (創発計測化学研究グループ): “A group of scientists working in a laboratory Esculab” Esculab / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (超分子・高分子化学研究グループ): “Polymer chain SPT” SPT Paul Topham / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Structures & Structural Dynamics
（グローバル30 プログラム） ): “RECPIY” Smokefoot / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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