Kato Laboratory

News
Dr. Satoshi Kajiyama, who obtained Ph.D on March, 2013, received a student award for the oral presentation "Formation of Polymer/Inorganic Crystalline Hybrid Thin Film" at the annual meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan, held in March, 2013.
The work on "Mechanochromic luminescent smectic liquid crystals" is published and the contents appear as the inside front cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry C (Issue 15, 2013). Shogo Yamane, Yoshimitsu Sagara, Toshiki Mutai, Koji Araki, and Takashi Kato, "Mechanochromic Luminescent Liquid Crystals Based on a Bianthryl Moiety", J. Mater. Chem. C, 1, 2648-2656 (2013).
The work on "Steric effects on excimer emission for photoluminescent liquid crystals" is published and the contents appear as the back cover of Chemical Communications (Issue 37, 2013). Shogo Yamane, Yoshimitsu Sagara, and Takashi Kato, "Steric Effects on Excimer Formation for Photoluminescent Smectic Liquid-Crystalline Materials", Chem. Commun., 49, 3839-3841 (2013).
Prof. Jean Fréchet, Vice-President for Research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, received The 2013(29th) Japan Prize for "Development of chemically amplified resist polymer materials for innovative semiconductor manufacturing process". The Japan Prize Website
Professor Cassandra Fraser, University of Virginia, USA, has joined our laboratory as the JSPS Invited Fellow.
Dr. Mariana Fernandes, University of Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal, has joined our laboratory as a visiting scholar.
Special Issue "Functional Liquid Crystals" in Volume 52 of "Israel Journal of Chemistry" has been published, edited by Professor Takashi Kato (The University of Tokyo) and Professor Sandeep Kumar (Raman Research Institute, India).
Israel Journal of Chemistry Website
6 September, 2012. Professor Takashi Kato and Dr. Yoshimitsu Sagara received the Best Paper Award (Section A) of the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society for Brightly Tricolored Mechanochromic Luminescence from a Single-Luminophore Liquid Crystal: Reversible Writing and Erasing of Images(Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50, 9128-9132 (2011).).
IUMRS-ICEM 2012 Awards: Dr. Tatsuya Nishimura received an award for encouragement of research in Materials Science for the oral presentation "Development of Self-Organized Polymer/Inorganic Composites by Using Oriented Polymer Templates" at The IUMRS-International Conference on Electric Materials (IUMRS-ICEM 2012).
The paper on Co-organisation of Ionic liquids with Amphiphilic compound has been published in Chemical Science. "Co-organisation of Ionic liquids with Amphiphilic Diethanolamines: Construction of 3D Continuous Ionic Nanochannels through the Induction of Liquid-crystalline Bicontinuous Cubic Phases" Takahiro Ichikawa, Masafumi Yoshio, Satomi Taguchi, Junko Kagimoto, Hiroyuki Ohno and Takashi Kato Chem. Sci., 3, 2001-2008 (2012).
The paper on Magneto-actice Physical gels has been published in Chemical Science. "Supramolecular Approach to the Formation of Magneto-active Physical Gels" Yong Wu, Yuki Hirai, Yoshihide Tsunobuchi, Hiroko Tokoro, Hiroki Eimura, Masafumi Yoshio, Shin-ichi Ohkoshi and Takashi Kato Chem. Sci., 3, 3007-3010 (2012).
Associate Professor Masafumi Yoshio received Award for SPSJ Hitach Chemical Award from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2012) for "Construction and Alignment of Charge-Transporting Supramolecular Assemblies"
Professor Takashi Kato has been appointed to Editor-in-Chief of "Polymer Journal" (The Society of Polymer Science Japan / Nature Publishing Group).
Polymer Journal Website
Professor Takashi Kato has been appointed to Editorial Advisory Board of "Small", which is scientific journal published by Wiley-VCH.
Small Website Small Editorial Board
Professor Takashi Kato has been appointed as the research supervisor of PRESTO (Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology: Sakigake) research “Molecular Technology and Creation of New Functions�Eof Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). PRESTO is a proposal-oriented research promotion program which aims at cultivating the seeds of precursory science and technology by promoting basic researches.
High school students visited Kato Lab. (27 students from Matsuzaka High School, Mie prefecture, on 23rd July, 39 students from Kaho High School, Fukuoka prefecture, on 1st August, and 9 students from Tsuchiura Dai-Ichi High School, Ibaraki prefecture). They enjoyed the lecture on functional liquid crystals given by Prof. Kato and experiments.
Special Issue "Self-Assembled Materials" in Volume 44 of "Polymer Journal" has been published , edited by Professor Takashi Kato(Associate Editor, The University of Tokyo), Professor Sadahito Aoshima(Guest Editor, Osaka University) and Professor Hirotsugu Kikuchi(Guest Editor, Kyushu University). Polymer Journal is owned by the Society of Polymer Science Japan(SPSJ) and it is copublished by SPSJ and Nature Publishing Group(NGP). The paper on stability of liquid-crystalline gels by photo polymerization has been published in this Special Issue. "Liquid-Crystalline Gels Exhibiting Electrooptical Light Scattering Properties: Fibrous Polymerized Network of a Lysine-Based Gelator Having Acrylate Moieties" Hiroki Eimura, Masafumi Yoshio, Yoshiko Shoji, Kenji Hanabusa, and Takashi Kato Polym. J., 44 , 594-599, (2012) (Special Issue). 8th, June, 2012, Funded by Grat-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (2010-2014) The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) FUSION MATERIALS Creative Development of Materials and Exploration of Their Function Through Molecular Control The 5th Symposium on Fusion Materials took place on 8 June 2012 at the Keio Collaboration Complex, Hiyoshi Campus, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.
Professor Takashi Kato has been appointed to Advisory Board of ChemPlusChem, which is a scientific journal published by Wiley-VCH.
ChemPlusChem Website ChemPlusChem Advisory Board
Professor Takashi Kato has been appointed to Editorial Board of New Journal of Chemistry (NJC). NJC is scientific journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
New Journal of Chemistry (NJC) Website Professor Takashi Kato to NJC
Dr. Tatsuya Nishimura received Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2011) for “Development of Organic/Inorganic Hybrids by Using Macromolecular Templates�E(30 May, 2012) Our paper on ionic bicontinuous cubic liquid crystals has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society. Induction of Thermotropic Bicontinuous Cubic Phases in Liquid-Crystalline Ammonium and Phosphonium Salts Takahiro Ichikawa, Masafumi Yoshio, Atsushi Hamasaki, Satomi Taguchi, Feng Liu, Xiang-bing Zeng, Goran Ungar, Hiroyuki Ohno, and Takashi Kato J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134, 2634-2643 (2012). Our paper on photoluminescence ionic liquid crystals has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society. Full-Color Tunable Photoluminescent Ionic Liquid Crystals Based on Tripodal Pyridinium, Pyrimidinium, and Quinolinium Salts Kana Tanabe, Yuko Suzui, Miki Hasegawa, and Takashi Kato J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134, 5652-5661 (2012). CSJ (The Chemical Society of Japan) Chemical Festa Awards 2011: Mr. Satoshi Kajiyama (Graduate Student, right) received a poster award for the poster presentation "Preparation of CaCO3 and SrCO3 Thin Films and Their Orientation Induced by Effects of Organic Polymers" and Mr. Tomohiro Shimizu (Graduate Student, left) also received a poster award for the poster presentation "Self-Organization and Electrochromism of π-Conjugated Molecules Having Oxyethylene Moieties" at The 1st CSJ Chemical Festa (21st December, 2011). Dr. Yoshimitsu Sagara (former Ph.D. student in Kato Group) received "Award for Encouragement of Research" for the lecture "Tricolored Mechanochromic Luminescent Liquid Crystal Having a Single Luminophore" at 21st MRS-Japan Academic Symposium (11th January 2012). Link to the announcement. NPG Asia Materials featured our tri-colored photoluminescent liquid crystal developed by Dr. Sagara and Prof. Kato (Yoshimitsu Sagara and Takashi Kato, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50, 9128 (2011)) in the Research Highlight�Eof its website as Luminescent materials: Three for two�E(5th December 2011). Link to the Article. Selected as ACS Noteworthy Chemistry: The American Chemical Society(ACS) featured our tri-colored photoluminescent liquid crystal developed by Dr. Sagara and Prof. Kato (Yoshimitsu Sagara and Takashi Kato, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50, 9128 (2011)) in the “Noteworty Chemistry�Eof its website as “A single luminophore emits three colors of visible light�E(24th October 2011). Link to the Article. Dr. Takeshi Sakamoto has become Assistant Professor of Kato Laboratory from 16th October, 2011. Dr. Tasuku Nakajima (Research Fellow of JSPS) was appointed as Assistant Professor at Hokkaido University on 1st October, 2011. Our paper on a π-conjugated liquid crystal has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society Electro-Functional Octupolar π-Conjugated Columnar Liquid Crystals�Ebr> Takuma Yasuda, Tomohiro Shimizu, Feng Liu, Goran Ungar, and Takashi Kato, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,133,13437 (2011). Link to the Abstract Chemical and Engineering News (C&E News)�Epublished by the American Chemical Society featured our tri-colored photoluminescent liquid crystal in the “Science & Technology Concentrates�Eas Liquid Crystal Shines In Three Colors�E (15 August 2011 | Vol. 89 Issue 33). �Ea href="http://www.newscientist.com/" target="_blank">New Scientist�Ereported on our Tricolored Photoluminescent Liquid Crystal in the “Short Sharp Science�Eas an article titled “Ah, the beauty of photoluminescent ginkgo leaves�E(Published online 05 August 2011) . Link to the Article. �Ea href="http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/index.asp" target="_blank">Chemistry World�Epublished by the Royal Society of Chemistry featured our stimuli-responsive tricolored luminescent liquid crystal in the website as a news article titled “Liquid crystals rearrange to glow in three colours�E(Published online 03 August 2011). Link to the Article. Our paper on a stimuli-responsive tricolored photoluminescent liquid crystal has been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. It has been selected as a “Hot Paper�E Yoshimitsu Sagara, Takashi Kato, “Brightly Tricolored Mechanochromic Luminescence from a Single-Luminophore Liquid Crystal: Reversible Writing and Erasing of Images�E Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,50,9128 (2011).This paper is press-released (Published online 03 August 2011). Link to the Press Release Link to the Abstract. Visits of High School Students Students of Tsuchiura Dai-Ichi High School visited Kato Lab. on 3rd August 2011. A paper on the self-organized photoimaging of CaCO3 thin film has been published on Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. “Photoimaging of Self-Organized CaCO3/Polymer Hybrid Films by Formation of Regular Relief and Flat Surface Morphologies�E T. Sakamoto, Y. Nishimura, T. Nishimura, T. Kato, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 50, 5856 (2011). Dr. Ayae Sugawara Narutaki (Alumni member) received Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2011) A personal account of Dr. Tatsuya Nishimura was introduced in Growing Polymers on KOBUNSHI HIGH POLYMERS, JAPAN, 60, 401, (2011). Students of Junior High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba visited Kato Lab. on 18th May 2011. Prof. Takashi Kato has published an Author Profile in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,50,4740 (2011). Link to Abstract. The work on " thin films of hydroxyapatite" is selected as a “Editor's Choice Article�E Tatsuya Nishimura, Hirotaka Imai, Yuya Oaki, Takeshi Sakamoto, Takashi Kato, “Preparation of Thin-film Hydroxyapatite/Polymer Hybrids�E Chem. Lett., 40, 458-460 (2011). Link to Editor's Choice Articles. A paper on "CaCO3/Liquid Crystalline Chitin-Whisker Hybrid Materials" in Polymer Journals has been featured in Polymers, 60, 291 (2011), (Society of Polymer Science, Japan) as "Hot Topics". Yuya Yamamoto, Tsuguyuki Saito, Tatsuya Nishimura, Takashi Kato, "CaCO3/Chitin-whisker Hybrids: Formation of CaCO3 Crystals in Chitin-based Liquid-crystalline Suspension", Polym. J., 42, 583-586 (2010). Link to the e-Book. Dr. Masafumi Yoshio has been promoted to an associate professor of the Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo from 16th March, 2011. Dr. M. Yoshio Dr. Kyosuke Isoda(former PhD course student in Kato laboratory) has joined Tokyo University of Science as an assistant professor from 1st April, 2011. Dr. Takuma Yasuda (former assistant professor in Kato Group, currently an associate professor of Kyushu Univ.) received the Young Researchers Award from the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society.(2010) The new project, grant-in-aid for scientific research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) on innovative areas of “Fusion Materials: Creative Development of Materials and Exploration of Their Function through Molecular Control�E(no. 2206, Project leader: Takashi Kato) has launched. Link to http://fusion-materials.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ The paper on "3D Ion Channel Based on Bicontinuous Cubic Polymer Structures" has been published in Journal of the American Chemical Society. Takahiro Ichikawa, Masafumi Yoshio, Atsushi Hamasaki, Junko Kagimoto, Hiroyuki Ohno, and Takashi Kato �ED Interconnected Ionic Nano-Channels Formed in Polymer Films: Self-Organization and Polymerization of Thermotropic Bicontinuous Cubic Liquid Crystals", J. Am. Chem. Soc.,133, 2163-2169 (2011). link to Abstract.This Study was supported by the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology Innovative Basic Research Toward Creation of High-performance Battery from teh Cabinet Office, Government of Japan Dr. Takahiro Ichikawa joined to Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology as an assistant professor from 1st October, 2010. Prof. Takashi Kato has joined the advisory editorial board of "Chemical Science", a new journal publised by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2010. Link to Journal Home A paper on "CaCO3 /Liquid Crystalline Chitin-Whisker Hybrid Materials" in Polymer Journals has been selected as "Polymer Journal Highlights 2010". Yuya Yamamoto, Tsuguyuki Saito, Tatsuya Nishimura, Takashi Kato, " CaCO3 /chitin-whisker hybrids: formation of CaCO3 crystals in chitin-based liquid-crystalline suspension ", Polym. J., 42, 583-586 (2010). link to Abstract Visits of High School Students High school students visited Kato Lab. for their field trips. (27 students from Ichikawa High School in Chiba prefecture on July 23rd, 40 students from Matsuzaka High School in Mie prefecture on 26th, 46 students from Urawa High School in Saitama prefecture on 30th) For each visit, Prof. Kato presented a lecture about “liquid crystals�E then to understand material properties the students prepared liquid crystals and observed them on the microscopes. They enjoyed the experiments and work hard, and some of them asked excellent questions to Prof. Kato and the graduate students of Kato Lab. Prof. Takashi Kato received The Award of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2009) for "Development of Functional Polymer Assemblies by the Control of Molecular Order and Interactions". The website of NPG Asia Materials features the paper on the results of "Redox-Switching of A Liquid-Crystalline Rotaxane" as an article entitled "Molecular switches: Re-colouring with redox" (Published online 19 April 2010): Takuma Yasuda, Kana Tanabe, Toru Tsuji, Karla K. Coti, Ivan Aprahamian, J. Fraser Stoddart, and Takashi Kato, "A Redox-Switchable [2]Rotaxane in a Liquid-Crystalline State", Chem. Commun., 46, 1224-1226 (2010). Link to Abstract The website of NPG Asia Materials is here. News before 2009 [JAPANESE]