Event Information:

Visit by Professor Akira SUZUKI,
Emeritus Professor of Hokkaido University,

2010 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry

 

Professor Akira Suzuki, 2010 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, has visited Fiji from 6 to 11 August, upon invitation of the University of the South Pacific (USP). During his visit, he gave a Public Lecture at Japan-Pacific ICT Center Multipurpose Theater of USP and a Public Seminar for Suva Secondary School students.

 

Emeritus Professor Akira Suzuki was born in Mukawa-cho, Hokkaido on September 12, 1930. After completing a Ph.D. course in the Graduate School of Science at Hokkaido University in 1959, he became an assistant professor at the Department of Chemical Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in 1961. Later, in 1973, he became a professor at the Department of Applied Chemistry. Upon reaching mandatory retirement age in 1994, he became an Emeritus Professor at Hokkaido University. He served as a professor at Okayama University of Science in 1994. He also served as a professor at Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts from 1995 until 2002, where he advanced his lifework in research on boron chemistry. His research concerning synthesis and use of an organic boron compound as a doctoral research fellow at H.C. Brown's laboratory (Purdue University, U.S.) for two years from 1963 further advanced this field and achieved many excellent world-leading results after returning to Japan.

 

His work on the cross-coupling reaction of an organic boron compound using palladium as a catalyst, work he reported in 1979, has grown as a field with profound impact on catalytic chemistry and material science, as well as organic synthetic chemistry. Since then he has developed a new research topic globally recognized as the "Suzuki coupling reaction." It is for this achievement that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced its decision to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010 to Dr. Akira Suzuki. The reaction allows extensive universality and practicality, and has been used for the synthesis of many biologically active natural products, including pharmaceutical preparations.