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.Wang, C., Luo, G., Nishiura, M., Song, G., Yamamoto, A., Luo, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Heteroatom-assisted Olefin Polymerization by Rare-Earth Metal Catalysts"
Sci. Adv. 3, e1701011 (2017).
2.Wang, B., Luo, G., Nishiura, M., Hu, S., Shima, T., Luo, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Dinitrogen Activation by Dihydrogen and a PNP-Ligated Titanium Complex"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 1818-1821 (2017).
3.Teng, H., Luo, Y., Wang, B., Zhang, L., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Synthesis of Chiral Aminocyclopropanes by Rare-Earth-Metal-Catalyzed Cyclopropene Hydroamination"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55, 15406-15410 (2016).
4.Carry, B., Zhang, L., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Synthesis of Lithium Boracarbonate Ion Pairs by Copper-Catalyzed Multi-Component Coupling of Carbon Dioxide, Diboron, and Aldehydes"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55, 6257-6260 (2016).
5.Guru, M. M., Shima, T., and Hou, Z.:
"Conversion of Dinitrogen to Nitriles at a Multinuclear Titanium Framework"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55, 12316-12320 (2016).
6.Shi, X., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"C−H Polyaddition of Dimethoxyarenes to Unconjugated Dienes by Rare Earth Catalysts"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138, 6147-6150 (2016).
7.Nishiura, M., Guo, F., and Hou, Z.:
"Half-Sandwich Rare-Earth-Catalyzed Olefin Polymerization, Carbometalation, and Hydroarylation"
Acc. Chem. Res. 48, 2209-2220 (2015).
8.Song, G., O, W. W. N., and Hou, Z.:
"Enantioselective C−H Bond Addition of Pyridines to Alkenes Catalyzed by Chiral Half-Sandwich Rare-Earth Complexes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 12209−12212 (2014).
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).