Molecular Organization Chemistry Lab (Tanaka Lab)

AboutAbout the lab

Developing functions through programmed molecular organization

The Tanaka Lab studies how to combine and organize large numbers of molecules to create molecular organizations with new functions.
In living organisms, many different kinds of molecules combine to form organized structures, and this gives rise to high-level functions.
The lab aims to create new functions in molecular organizations by skillfully controlling combinations of the type, number, distance, and arrangement of molecules.
Using metal complexes and cyclic molecules, the lab advances research on liquid crystals and catalysts.

ResearchResearch themes

The lab aims to create new functions, based on the possibility that organizing molecules can give rise to functions beyond those of individual molecules or a simple sum of them. It works on developing liquids with spaces that take in molecules (liquid crystals) and on making catalysts from organized metal complexes.

*Illustrative image

Molecular organizations linking the nano to the macro scale↗

Focusing on "columnar liquid crystals," in which disc-shaped molecules stack like coins, the lab conceived the idea of stacking cyclic molecules that have pores to create a liquid with spaces inside its columns. By placing molecules "inside liquid columns," this approach is expected to lead to applications such as special spaces for carrying out previously unexplored reactions.

*Illustrative image

Reactive molecular organizations↗

Methane, the main component of natural gas, has stable C–H bonds, which makes it difficult to convert efficiently into substances such as methanol. By organizing a metal complex that serves as the catalytic center together with a metal complex that assists it, the lab has made a highly active methane oxidation catalyst, and is extending this work to catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction required in fuel cells.

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