Our group is actively pursuing research in the following topics.

Development of chiral secondary amine organocatalysts

Chiral secondary amines catalyze the reactions of aldehydes and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes through the formation of reactive enamine and iminium intermediates. While these environmentally benign catalysts provide high enantioselectivities for valuable organic transformations, their industrial application remains limited due to the requirement for relatively high catalytic loadings (typically ~20 mol %), as well as challenges associated with catalyst decomposition and separation. To overcome these limitations, our group is engaged in the development of novel organocatalysts for useful asymmetric organic transformations.  

Development of asymmetric synthetic methodologies

During the asymmetric functionalization of unsaturated aldehydes via aminocatalysis, vinylogous intermediates such as dienamines and trienamines are generated. These intermediates possess multiple reactive centers at the α-, γ-, and ε-positions, making the control of regioselectivity a significant challenge in such catalytic processes. Our group focuses on developing methodologies for the regioselective functionalization of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and α,β,γ,δ-unsaturated aldehydes.

Asymmetric synthesis of natural products and drugs

We design short and efficient synthetic routes to bioactive natural products by employing the asymmetric catalytic methodologies developed in our laboratory. Our research also focuses on the stereodivergent and enantiodivergent total synthesis of chiral bioactive natural products. Our methodologies are applied to the concise asymmetric synthesis of pharmaceuticals and commercially relevant drugs.