Drug discovery through research on chemical synthesis
Prof. Hirohisa Ohmiya
Faculty of Pharmacy, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences
Speciality: Synthetic organic chemistry
Pharmaceutical and Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Making full use of catalysts for creating organic molecules that lead to drug discovery
Most medicines and agricultural chemicals, indispensable for human life and health, consist of organic molecules. Therefore, the development of chemical reactions is important in order to create (synthesize) organic molecules as candidates or precursors for medicines and agricultural chemicals, both efficiently and in large quantities. Catalysts are substances that do not change themselves but accelerate chemical reactions. The rational and precise design of catalysts makes it possible to realize innovative chemical reactions to convert raw materials into organic molecules of high added value. Acceleration of drug discovery research is thus expected.
New chemical reaction through industry-academia collaboration
Through a collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, a catalyst system was designed with an organic catalyst (consisting of only organic substances but no metal elements) and the light energy of a blue LED. By using this, we were successful in developing a chemical reaction for formation of a carbon-oxygen bond (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2020). The organic compound with a carbon-oxygen bond synthesized by this reaction can be used as a key molecule that could lead to further drug discovery.
Pioneering the future of life sciences through drug discovery research
We have been carrying out innovative research on the efficient synthesis of molecules by making full use of organic chemistry and by designing catalysts as well as chemical reactions. We hope to be able to pioneer the future of life science research by further developing organic synthesis technology, thereby optimizing the creation processes for medicines and agricultural chemicals and contributing to new drug discovery.
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