Tokuyama Profile

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Tohoku University
6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku
Sendai 980-8578, Japan
tel: +81-22-795-6887. fax+81-22-795-6877
e-mail: tokuyama@mail.pharm.tohoku.ac.jp

We are interested in invention of new reaction and strategies that allow complex molecules to be assembled efficiently. We are particularly interested in development of versatile indole synthesis and its application to total synthesis of indole alkaloids. By featuring our indole synthesis, we have recently completed total syntheses of the representative vinca alkaloids, vinblastine and vincristine. In the past several years we have established synthetic routes to natural products, gelsemine, FR-900482, eudistomin, aspidophytine, and duocarmycins. In other studies of new and useful chemical transformations, exceptionally mild ketone synthesis by palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction of thiol esters with zinc reagents was reported. The reaction was further extended to the development of 1-acetylenic ketones by Sonogashira-type coupling reaction. Other new reactions of synthetic utility that have been developed include a conversion of primary amines to N-alkylhydroxylamines, a novel conversion of alpha-aminonitriles to amide, and a mild copper-mediated amination of aryl halides.

5/2006-present	Professor Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University
2/2003-4/2006	Associate Professor Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo
11/2002-3/2006	Researcher, PRESTO, The Japan Science and Technology Corporation
4/2001-1/2003	Lecturer Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo
11/1995-3/2001	Assistant Professor Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo
4/1994-11/1995	Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Amos B. Smith, III, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania
4/1990-9/1994	Graduate Student with Professor Eiichi Nakamura, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
6/1990-8/1990	Summer Intern, Pharma Division, Sandoz AG (Basel, Switzerland)

2007	Young Scientist's Prize: The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan
2006	Banyu Young Chemist Award 2006
2006	Lectureship Award to Taiwan, The 1st International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia
2005	Banyu Young Chemist Award 2005
2003	The Pharmaceutical Society Japan Award for Young Scientist
2002	The Sankyo Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan
1999	Young Investigator Award at the 41th Symmposium on Natural Products Chemistry
1995	The JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad
1992	The JSPS Fellowships for Young Scientists