Yasuomi Yamazaki - Development of Synthetic Methods for Novel Photofunctional Multinuclear Complexes: Simple Synthetic Methods for Multinuclear Complexes Using Various C-C Coupling Reactions

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Global warming and the depletion of fossil resources are serious threats to the future of human beings. The development of useful photofunctional compounds for solar energy conversion is an urgent priority for achieving a sustainable society. One of the useful strategies should be an integration of different metal complexes with different photofunctions, which can induce various processes such as excitation energy and electron transfer, and catalytic reactions. From this viewpoint, Dr. Yamazakis Ph.D. work has a strong impact on science and technology, especially for improving the conversion efficiency of solar energy to chemical energy.

The thesis written by Dr. Yasuomi Yamazaki addresses new synthetic methods for a novel class of various photofunctional multinuclear complexes. He applied the various C-C coupling methods, which have been originally developed for the synthesis of organic compounds, to the synthesis of photofunctional multinuclear metal complexes. By using these synthetic methods, he successfully made various types of multinuclear complexes with high photofunctions, such as light-harvesting properties and photocatalyses. For instance, he developed various photocatalysts consisting of photosensitizer and catalyst units, of which photocatalytic abilities for CO2 reduction are much higher compared to the corresponding mixed system of mononuclear complexes due to rapid intramolecular electron transfer between the photosensitizer and catalyst units. Light-harvesting multinuclear complexes are the other important examples, where rapid intramolecular energy transfer accumulates excitation energy into one unit.

The main contents of the Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Yasuomi Yamazaki have already been published in 7 high-level international journals such as Chemical Science and Inorganic Chemistry.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Osamu Ishitani, for his continuous discussion, suggestions, and supports. I have respect for his great effort in research and education. I will build on the variable experiences in the Ishitani laboratory to work as a researcher. I look forward to continuous collaboration work with him.

Besides my supervisor, I wish to thank Prof. Kazuhiko Maeda and Prof. Tatsuki Morimoto for their countless encouragement and insightful comments in the laboratory meetings. I gratefully acknowledge the work of past and present members of the Ishitani laboratory.

I am grateful to Prof. Masaki Kawano and Prof. Hiroyoshi Ohtsu for the X-ray crystal analysis. I also thank Prof. Hiromu Kumagai, Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda, Dr. Jana Rohacova, and Dr. Kazuhide Koike for the collaboration works.