Keiji Maruoka, Kyoto University, Japan, is the winner of the fourth Ryoji Noyori ACES Award. The award is the highest honor given by the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) and recognizes outstanding work in chemistry. It was established in 2017 and is named after the Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori, the founding Board Chair of Chemistry – An Asian Journal, the first ACES journal. The award includes an invitation to deliver a lecture at the 2023 Ryoji Noyori ACES Award Symposium, EUR 1,000, travel expenses, and a certificate.
Keiji Maruoka is awarded for his innovative work on high-performance organocatalysts for selective organic synthesis, as well as his international approach to scientific research, which exemplifies the collaborative ACES spirit. He says, “I am delighted to receive this prestigious Ryoji Noyori ACES Award, which is certainly a memorable one for celebrating my 70th birthday.”
Maruoka’s research interests include the design of high-performance organocatalysts and the development of conceptually new synthetic reactions for the synthesis of useful molecules. A very successful example is the rational design of the Simplified Maruoka Catalyst® that allows the industrial-scale synthesis of various artificial amino acids for pharmaceutical use.
Curriculum Vitae
Keiji Maruoka, born in 1953 in Mie, Japan, studied organic chemistry at the University of Hawaii, USA, where he completed his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under the supervision of Hisashi Yamamoto in 1980. After completing his degree, he held positions as Lecturer, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor at Nagoya University, Japan, from 1980 to 1995, and as Professor at Hokkaido University, Japan, from 1995 to 2001. He joined the Department of Chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan, as a Professor in 2000, and has served as Chairman of the Department in 2004/2005 and in 2016/2017. Currently, he is a Specially-Appointed Professor at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kyoto University, Japan, and a Distinguished Professor at Guangdong University of Technology, China.
Among other honors, Keiji Maruoka received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2011, the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (National Prize from The Japanese Emperor) in 2011, a Humboldt Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation, Germany, in 2011, and the Japan Academy Prize in 2018. He also was selected as the 2019 The Chemical Record Lecturer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and an Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India and the Chemical Society of Japan.
Among other commitments, Maruoka has been a Co-Chair of the Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry since the launch of the journal, is the Editor-in-Chief of The Chemical Record and an Editor of Tetrahedron Letters, and serves on the advisory boards of Chemistry – An Asian Journal, Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, the Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, and Chemical Communications.
Selected Publications
- Design of Bifunctional Amino Tf‐Amide Organocatalysts and Application in Various Asymmetric Transformations,
Hyo‐Jun Lee, Keiji Maruoka,
Chem. Rec. 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1002/tcr.202200004 - Visible-Light-Induced α-C(sp3)–H Phosphinylation of Unactivated Ethers under Photocatalyst- and Additive-Free Conditions,
Bo Liu, Jianji Li, Yifan Hu, Qian Chen, Yan Liu, Shaomin Ji, Keiji Maruoka, Yanping Huo, Hao-Li Zhang,
J. Org. Chem. 2022, 87, 11281–11291.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.2c01502 - Synthesis of Functionalized Aliphatic Acid Esters via the Generation of Alkyl Radicals from Silylperoxyacetals,
Akira Matsumoto, Yoko Shiozaki, Shunya Sakurai, Keiji Maruoka,
Chem. Asian J. 2021, 16, 2431–2434.
https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.202100723 - Highly Selective Monoalkylation of Active Methylene and Related Derivatives using Alkylsilyl Peroxides by a Catalytic Cu(I)‐DMAP System,
Canhua Zhou, Jiamin Lv, Weiping Xu, Hanbin Lu, Terumasa Kato, Yan Liu, Keiji Maruoka,
Asian J. Org. Chem. 2021, 10, 2625–2631.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajoc.202100440 - Recent Advances of Catalytic Asymmetric 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions,
Takuya Hashimoto, Keiji Maruoka,
Chem. Rev. 2015, 115, 5366–5412.
https://doi.org/10.1021/cr5007182 - A Designer Axially Chiral Amino Sulfonamide as an Efficient Organocatalyst for Direct Asymmetricanti-Selective Mannich Reactions andsyn-Selective Cross-Aldol Reactions,
Taichi Kano, Yukako Yamaguchi, Keiji Maruoka,
Chem. Eur. J. 2009, 15, 6678–6687.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.200900267 - Recent Advances in Asymmetric Phase-Transfer Catalysis,
Takashi Ooi, Keiji Maruoka,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 4222–4266.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200601737 - Recent Development and Application of Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysts,
Takuya Hashimoto, Keiji Maruoka,
Chem. Rev. 2007, 107, 5656–5682.
https://doi.org/10.1021/cr068368n - Powerful Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysts for the Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Alkyl- and α,α-Dialkyl-α-amino Acids,
Masanori Kitamura, Seiji Shirakawa, Keiji Maruoka,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 1549–1551.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200462257
Also of Interest
