The prestigious Merck-Banyu Lectureship Award (MBLA) is given annually to exceptional young Japanese chemists who exhibit a well-balanced mix of originality, creativity, and overall potential of their research programs. The award’s central purpose is the promotion of professional interactions between Japanese researchers and major research centers in the USA. The MBLA is presented along with an award lecture at an annual chemistry symposium organized by the Banyu Life Science Foundation. As part of the prize, each awardee embarks on a two-week lecture tour to major universities and research organizations in the USA, including Merck Research Laboratories.
The Chemical Record, a journal of the Chemical Society of Japan, recently published a special issue that includes personal account articles from all seven past Merck-Banyu Lectureship awardees. This issue brings together an impressive mix of diverse research programs representing an outstanding group of rising stars of Japanese chemistry.
The past awardees of the Merck-Banyu Lectureship Award (MBLA) include:
2010
Shigeki Matsunaga, University of Tokyo
Development of Multimetallic Concerto Asymmetric Catalysis Using Multidentate Chiral Ligands
2009
Yoshiaki Nakao, Kyoto University
C-C Bond Forming Addition Reactions by Cooperative Metal Catalysis
2008
Ken Ohmori, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Synthetic Study on Polycyclic Bioactive Natural ProductsTechnical Achievement
2007
Kenichiro Itami, Nagoya University
Creation of Functional Materials Based on Catalytic Direct Functionalization of Olefins and Aromatics
2006
Jun Terao, Kyoto University
New Methodologies for Carbon-Carbon and Carbon-Silicon Bond Forming Reactions Using Anionic Transition Metal Complexes as Active Catalytic Species
2005
Motomu Kanai, University of Tokyo
Development of Catalytic Enantioselective Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions: Chirality Control for Tetrasubstituted Carbons
2004
Masayuki Inoue, University of Tokyo
Total Synthesis of Neuromodulatory Natural Products
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