Mikiko Sodeoka, Deputy Director of RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, and Group Director of Catalysis and Integrated Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan, is the winner of the 5th 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 2025 Ryoji Noyori ACES Award Symposium, EUR 1,000, a travel stipend, and a certificate. The symposium will be held during the 20th Asian Chemical Congress, which will take place from June 23-27, 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand. The award will be presented to Mikiko Sodeoka at the opening ceremony on June 23rd; her lecture will take place on June 24th.
Mikiko Sodeoka is being awarded for her considerable scientific achievements as an innovative chemist and a leader in synthetic organic chemistry. The award also recognizes her inspirational role in the international scientific community, exemplifying the global ACES approach. Receiving the Ryoji Noyori ACES Award is particularly meaningful to her because it is named after Professor Noyori, who was not only a renowned chemist but also a former President of RIKEN, the institute she is affiliated with, she told us.
Mikiko Sodeoka’s research interests include the development of methodologies for the efficient synthesis of biologically active compounds and the creation of small molecules to analyze and control protein methylation. She is also focused on developing Indolylmaleimide (IM) derivatives as novel inhibitors of cell death, aiming for therapeutic applications in ischemia-reperfusion injury models. Additionally, her work encompasses Alkyne-tag Raman Imaging (ATRI) to visualize small molecules in live cells, as well as methodologies for identifying the binding proteins or sites of bioactive compounds.
Curriculum Vitae
Mikiko Sodeoka studied at Chiba University, Japan, under the supervision of Toru Hino, receiving her B.S. in 1981 and M.S. in 1983. She worked with Masakatsu Shibasaki at Sagami Chemical Research Center (SCRC), Kanagawa, Japan, until 1986 and at Hokkaido University, Japan, until 1990, and received her Ph.D. from Chiba University in 1989. In 1990, she moved to Harvard University, Cambridge, MS, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow, working with E. J. Corey and then Gregory L. Verdine until 1992. From 1992 to 1995, she worked as an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan, before starting her independent career at SCRC in 1996. She became an associate professor at the University of Tokyo in 1999 and then moved to Tohoku University, Japan, as a full professor in 2000.
In 2006, she joined RIKEN as a chief scientist, holding this position until 2024. Since 2013, she has also served as Group Director of the Catalysis and Integrated Research Group at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science. In 2022, she was appointed Deputy Director of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science. Additionally, she served as a visiting professor at The University of Tokyo (2005-2008), Kyoto University (2008-2011), Saitama University, Japan, (2006-2024), and Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2008-2024).
Her achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, including The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work (2004), the Nagoya Medal Prize (Silver Medal) (2007), the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Award, Japan (2017), the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (American Chemical Society) (2018), The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award (2021), the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award (2023), and the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (a National Prize from the Japanese Emperor) in 2024. She was also elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2014.
Selected Publications
- Subrata Mukherjee, Yuma Aoki, Shintaro Kawamura, Mikiko Sodeoka, Ligand-Controlled Copper-Catalyzed Halo-Halodifluoromethylation of Alkenes and Alkynes Using Fluorinated Carboxylic Anhydrides, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202407150
- Florian Pünner, Yoshihiro Sohtome, Yanzong Lyu, Daisuke Hashizume, Mai Akakabe, Mami Yoshimura, Yoko Yashiroda, Minoru Yoshida, Mikiko Sodeoka, Catalytic Aerobic Carbooxygenation for the Construction of Vicinal Tetrasubstituted Centers: Application to the Synthesis of Hexasubstituted γ-Lactones, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202405876
- Takuma Tagami, Shintaro Kawamura, Mikiko Sodeoka, Aerobic Photoredox Catalyzed Oxamate Ester Synthesis from Bromodifluoroacetate Esters, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202400265
- Kohei Toh, Kosuke Nishio, Reiko Nakagawa, Syusuke Egoshi, Masahiro Abo, Amelie Perron, Shin-ichi Sato, Naoki Okumura, Noriko Koizumi, Kosuke Dodo, Mikiko Sodeoka, Motonari Uesugi, Chemoproteomic Identification of Blue-Light-Damaged Proteins, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144(44), 20171–20176.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c07180 - Masumi Sugawara, Miki Sawamura, Mai Akakabe, Boobalan Ramadoss, Yoshihiro Sohtome, Mikiko Sodeoka, Pd-catalyzed Aerobic Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling of Catechols with 2-Oxindoles and Benzofuranones: Reactivity Difference Between Monomer and Dimer, Chem. Asian J. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.202200807
- Tetsuya Ezawa, Yoshihiro Sohtome, Daisuke Hashizume, Masaya Adachi, Mai Akakabe, Hiroyuki Koshino, Mikiko Sodeoka, Dynamics in Catalytic Asymmetric Diastereoconvergent (3 + 2) Cycloadditions with Isomerizable Nitrones and α-Keto Ester Enolates, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143(24), 9094–9104. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c02833
- Erna Davydova, Tadahiro Shimazu, Maren Kirstin Schuhmacher, Magnus E. Jakobsson, Hanneke L. D. M. Willemen, Tongri Liu, Anders Moen, Angela Y. Y. Ho, Jędrzej Małecki, Lisa Schroer, Rita Pinto, Takehiro Suzuki, Ida A. Grønsberg, Yoshihiro Sohtome, Mai Akakabe, Sara Weirich, Masaki Kikuchi, Jesper V. Olsen, Naoshi Dohmae, Takashi Umehara, Mikiko Sodeoka, Valentina Siino, Michael A. McDonough, Niels Eijkelkamp, Christopher J. Schofield, Albert Jeltsch, Yoichi Shinkai, Pål Ø. Falnes, The methyltransferase METTL9 mediates pervasive 1-methylhistidine modification in mammalian proteomes, Nature Communications 2021, 12(891). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20670-7
- Yoshihiro Sohtome, Genta Nakamura, Atsuya Muranaka, Daisuke Hashizume, Sylvain Lectard, Teruhisa Tsuchimoto, Masanobu Uchiyama, Mikiko Sodeoka, Naked d-orbital in a centrochiral Ni(II) complex as a catalyst for asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition, Nature Communications 2017, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14875
- Shintaro Kawamura, Mikiko Sodeoka, Perfluoroalkylation of Unactivated Alkenes with Acid Anhydrides as the Perfluoroalkyl Source, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201604127
- Almar F Palonpon, Jun Ando, Hiroyuki Yamakoshi, Kosuke Dodo, Mikiko Sodeoka, Satoshi Kawata, Katsumasa Fujita, Raman and SERS microscopy for molecular imaging of live cells, Nature Protocols 2013, 8, 677–692. https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2013.030
- Yoshitaka Hamashima, Shoko Suzuki, Toshihiro Tamura, Hidenori Somei, Mikiko Sodeoka, Scope and Mechanism of Tandem Aza-Michael Reaction/Enantioselective Protonation Using a Pd–μ-Hydroxo Complex under Mild Conditions Buffered with Amine Salts, Chem. Asian J. 2010. https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.201000740
Also of Interest
- Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES)
- Previous Ryoji Noyori ACES Awards
- Mikiko Sodeoka’s group website
