前田化学反応創成知能プロジェクト JST-ERATO

An ERATO research group led by Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Kosaku Tanaka III, Professor Tsuyoshi Mita, Specially Appointed Associate Professor Wataru Matsuoka, and Professor Satoshi Maeda has developed a new reaction using the virtual ligand screening method. The work was published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, selected for cover art, and also featured in a press release.

2025-10-02 Topics

At the 19th Annual Meeting of the Molecular Science Forum (Hiroshima, 2025), Specially Appointed Associate Professor Wataru Matsuoka received the Excellent Presentation Award of the Molecular Science Society and the BCSJ Award for his research presentation entitled “Development and Application of a Transition Metal Catalyst Optimization Method Using Virtual Ligand Computation.

2025-09-12 Topics

Dr. Wataru Kanna’s research has been featured in the Spotlight Research series on Chem-Station.

2025-08-25 Topics

At the 27th Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry, Specially Appointed Associate Professor Wataru Matsuoka received the Excellent Presentation Award (supported by Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, BCSJ) for his research presentation entitled “Development and Application of a Transition Metal Catalyst Optimization Method Using Virtual Ligand Computation.”

2025-07-24 Topics

Prof. Tsuyoshi Mita, Prof. Satoshi Maeda, and their ERATO research group have successfully achieved the chemical synthesis of β-amino acids using CO₂. Their work has been published online in ACS Catalysis, selected as the cover art, and featured in a press release.

2025-07-11 Topics

Professor Satoshi Maeda, Specially Appointed Professor Yu Harabuchi, and their research group have successfully developed a gel material that combines high stability against heat and light with rapid self-strengthening performance. Their paper has been published online in Chemical Science, accompanied by a press release.

2025-07-10 Topics

Project Associate Prof. Hiroki Hayashi and his research group have discovered a novel photocatalytic function of ketones through advanced computational chemistry. Their findings have been published online in JACS, selected as the cover art, and featured in a press release.

2025-07-07 Topics

Prof. Satoshi Maeda has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award, an international academic prize established by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. He attended the award ceremony held in Berlin on June 26.

2025-06-26 Topics

Prof. Keisuke Takahashi has been awarded the title of Hokkaido University Distinguished Researcher. The Hokkaido University Distinguished Researcher Program was established in January 2022 with the aim of further promoting education and research, as well as securing outstanding young faculty members. The title is awarded to young researchers at Hokkaido University who have demonstrated exceptional research achievements in their respective fields.

2025-06-05 Topics

The research of the ERATO Maeda Project was featured in the June issue of JST News.

2025-06-02 Topics

Prof. Takahashiand their research group have developed FLUID, a material synthesizing robot that can be completely self-made using a 3D printer. Their paper has been published online in ACS Appl. Eng. Mater and a press release has been issued.

2025-04-09 Topics

Professor Mita’s Award Account for the 2024 Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work has been published.

2025-03-20 Topics

Our collaborative research with Professor Hiroki Shigehisa from Musashino University (the MANABIYA project) has been featured in Chem-Station’s Spotlight Research.

2025-02-14 Topics

An interview with Assistant Professor Lauren Takahashi was published in the “Rising stars in AI use robotics and automation to accelerate their work” of the nature magazine.

2025-01-10 Topics

On December 24, 2024, the Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ) has announced the winners of its annual awards for fiscal year 2024.
Professor Tsuyoshi Mita was awarded the Chemical Society of Japan for Creative Work for 2024, for his research on “Development of Small-Molecule Activation Reactions and Reaction Design Using Quantum Chemical Calculations”.

2024-12-24 Topics

On December 17 (Tue) and 18 (Wed), the 47th Cheminformatics Debate organized by the Divison of Chemoinformatics, The Chemical Society of Japan was held in Kanazawa city.
Project Assistant Professor Seiji Akiyama received the outstanding poster award.

2024-12-19 Topics

Project Assistant Professor Kosaku III Tanaka received the Nippon Shokubai Research Planning Award from the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan for his research on “Development of Photoexcited Palladium Chemistry Driven by the Virtual Phosphine Ligand Screening Method”.
The prize is awarded to young researchers in the field of synthetic organic chemistry for their innovative research.

2024-12-06 Topics

“Photoredox-Catalyst-Free Carboxylation of Unactivated Alkenes in DMSO: Synthesis of Polycyclic Indole Derivatives and Aliphatic Acids” has been published online in and selected as a cover picture in the journal Org. Lett.

2024-12-06 Topics

Professor Tsuyoshi Mita won the Asian Core Program (ACP) Lectureship Award at the 17th International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia (ICCEOCA-17) held in Taiwan on November 29th to December 2nd.

2024-12-05 Topics

Assistant Prof. Wataru Mastuoka, Prof. Satoshi Maeda and their research group have developed a technique called Virtual Ligand-Assisted Optimization, or VLAO, to enhance the design and effectiveness of ligands, which are important molecules used in chemical reactions, especially in catalysis and the paper was published in ACS Catalysis. The research was also featured in a press release.

2024-10-21 Topics

Prof. Tsuyoshi Mita, Prof. Satoshi Maeda, Lecturer Hiroki Shigehisa (Faculty of Pharmacy, Musashino University) and their research group have achieved the construction of diverse small-molecule frameworks using cobalt catalysts and the paper was published in ACS Catalysis. The research was also featured in a press release.

2024-10-21 Topics

An interview with Professor Satoshi Maeda was published in the “Front Runner Challenges” series, Episode 152, of Nikkei Science.

2024-08-26 Topics

A two-day trial enrollment event, “Yume・Chemistry-21 for the Chemistry field” has been held in Hokkaido University. Four students from Sapporo Keisei High School participated in the event.

2024-08-01 Topics

Professor Tsuyoshi Mita and his ERATO Organic Synthesis Group have successfully developed a diphosphination reaction for strained small molecule compounds, and their work has been published online and selected as a cover picture in the journal JACS Au.

2024-07-29 Topics

“Tetraborylation of p-Benzynes Generated by the Masamune–Bergman Cyclization through Reaction DesignBased on the Reaction Path Network” has been published in JACS Au.

2024-06-20 publication

Professor Keisuke Takahashi received The Young Scientists’ award for research on “The creation of the field of catalyst informatics and the development of catalytic methane oxidation”

2024-04-11 Topics

Project Associate Professor Yu Harabuchi received The Young Scientists’ award for research on “The creation of quantum chemical computation methods for understanding the photofunctions of molecules”

2024-04-11 Topics

“Differentiating the Yield of Chemical Reactions Using Parameters in First-Order Kinetic Equations to Identify Elementary Steps That Control the Reactivity from Complicated Reaction Path Networks” has been published in J. Phys. Chem. A.

2024-04-02 Publication

Professor Tsuyoshi Mita and Professor Satoshi Maeda’s ERATO research group has developed a synthesis method for γ-butyrolactone using CO₂ radical anions. This research has been published online in Precis. Chem. and has been selected for the cover picture. They elucidated the reaction mechanism using reaction path network.

2024-02-16 Topics

“Exploring Downhill Bifurcations in [3,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement by Finding Transitions from an Uphill Bifurcation to a Downhill Bifurcation” has been published in J. Chem. Theory Comput. and has been selected for the cover picture.

2024-02-05 Topics

Project Assistant Professor, Hiroki Hayashi won the Asian Core Program (ACP) Lectureship Award at the 16th International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia (ICCEOCA-16)held in Singapore on December 1-4th.

2023-12-14 Topics

“Quantum Chemical Calculations for Reaction Prediction in the Development of Synthetic Methodologies” has been selected as the Inside Front Cover of Chem. Sci.

2023-11-14 Topics

The review titled “Quantum Chemical Calculations for Reaction Prediction in the Development of Synthetic Methodologies” which summarizes reaction development driven by calculations has been published in Chem. Sci.

2023-09-30 Topics

The ERATO Special Session was held at Theory and applications in computational chemistry 2023 in Sapporo from September 4 to 9, Professor Satoshi Maeda, Professor Satoru Iwata, Professor Tsuyoshi Mita, Associate Professor Yu Harabuchi, and Assistant Professor Wataru Matsuoka presented the research results of the ERATO project.

2023-09-09 Topics

ERATO research on the prediction of retrosynthetic pathways selected for inaugural JACS Au Outstanding Paper Award

2023-09-07 Topics

Prof. Keisuke Takahashi, Prof. Satoshi Maeda and their research group have developed a platform called “Searching Chemical Actions and Networks (SCAN),” which enables users to search, visualize, explore, and design chemical reaction pathways generated by the Artificial Force Induced Reaction (AFIR) method on the web with just a click. Their paper was published online in Digital Discovery, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a press release was issued.

2023-07-05 Topics

Dr. Taihei Oki was awarded the Best Presentation Award at The Japan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

2023-06-23 Topics

Professor Tsuyoshi Mita’s ERATO research group has developed a selective monocarboxylation reaction of naphthalene by electrolytic reduction. The research has been published online in Org. Lett. and has also been selected as the cover picture.

2023-06-02 Topics

Synthesis of Bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP)-Based Straight-Shaped Diphosphine Ligands has been selected as the Frontispiece of the Agnew. Chem. Int. Ed.

2023-05-23 Topics

Prof. Tsuyoshi Mita and Prof. Satoshi Maeda’s ERATO research group has succeeded in developing a synthetic method for linear diphosphine ligand using [1.1.1]propellane and published their findings in Agnew. Chem. Int. Ed. The research was also featured in a press release.

2023-04-03 Topics

Dr. Hiroki Hayashi was awarded the “Special Lecture Award for Younger Generations” at the 103rd Spring Annual Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan.

2023-03-22 Topics