RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science Advanced Catalysis Research Group

Group Director: Zhaomin Hou (D.Eng.)

Japanese Page

Research Summary

Our group aims to develop new generations of catalysts, which are complementary or superior to the existing ones, for applications in efficient utilization of untapped resources and the synthesis of fine chemicals and functional polymer materials. Particular interests are directed to: (1) activation and utilization of N₂ for the synthesis of ammonia and nitrogen-containing organic compounds under mild conditions, (2) utilization of CO₂ as a chemical feedstock for the synthesis of high-value added fine chemicals, and (3) synthesis of high-performance polymer materials by selective copolymerization of commodity monomers having different properties.

Main Research Fields

Chemistry

Related Research Fields

Environmental Science
Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering
Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
Organic chemistry
Synthetic chemistry
Polymer chemistry

Keywords

Olefin Polymerization
C-H Bond Functionalization
Dinitrogen Activation
Transformation of Carbon Dioxide to Useful Chemicals
Asymmetric Catalysis

Selected Publications

1. Lou, S., Zhuo, Q., Nishiura, M., Luo, G., and Hou, Z.:
"Enantioselective C–H Alkenylation of Ferrocenes with Alkynes by Half-Sandwich Scandium Catalyst"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 2470-2476 (2021).
2. Shima, T., Yang, J., Luo, G., Luo, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Dinitrogen Activation and Hydrogenation by C5Me4SiMe3-Ligated Di- and Trinuclear Chromium Hydride Complexes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 9007-9016 (2020).
3. Wang, H., Wu, X., Yang, Y., Nishiura, M., Hou, Z.:
"Co-syndiospecific Alternating Copolymerization of Functionalized Propylenes and Styrene by Rare-Earth Catalysts"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59, 7173-7177 (2020).
4. Cong, X., Zhan, G., Mo, Z., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Diastereodivergent [3+2] Annulation of Aromatic Aldimines with Alkenes via C-H Activation by Half-Sandwich Rare-Earth Catalysts"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 5531-5537 (2020).
5. Li, Z., Zhang, L., Nishiura, M., Luo, G., Luo, Y., Hou, Z.:
"CO₂ Activation by Lewis Pairs Generated Under Copper Catalysis Enables Difunctionalization of Imines"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 1966-1974 (2020).
6. Lou, S., Mo, Z., Nishiura, M., Hou, Z.:
"Construction of All-Carbon Quaternary Stereocenters by Scandium-Catalyzed Intramolecular C-H Alkylation of Imidazoles with 1,1-Disubstituted Alkenes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 1200-1205 (2020).
7. Wang, H., Yang, Y., Nishiura, M., Higaki, Y., Takahara, A., Hou, Z.:
"Synthesis of Self-Healing Polymers by Scandium-Catalyzed Copolymerization of Ethylene and Anisylpropylenes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 3249-3257 (2019).
8. Nishiura, M., Guo, F., and Hou, Z.:
"Half-Sandwich Rare-Earth-Catalyzed Olefin Polymerization, Carbometalation, and Hydroarylation"
Acc. Chem. Res. 48, 2209-2220 (2015).
9. Hu, S., Shima, T., and Hou, Z.:
"Carbon-Carbon Bond Cleavage and Rearrangement of Benzene by a Trinuclear Titanium Hydride"
Nature, 512, 413-415 (2014).
10. Shima, T., Hu, S., Luo, G., Kang, X., Luo, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Dinitrogen Cleavage and Hydrogenation by a Trinuclear Titanium Polyhydride Complex"
Science, 340, 1549-1552 (2013).