Takuzo Aida, University of Tokyo, Japan, is the winner of the 3rd Ryoji Noyori ACES Award. The award is the highest honor offered by the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) and recognizes outstanding research in chemistry. It was established in 2017 and is named after the Nobel Laureate Ryoji Noyori, the founding Chair of the Editorial Board of Chemistry – An Asian Journal, the first ACES journal. The award will be the core of the Ryoji Noyori ACES Award Symposium on October 20th and 21st, 2021, organized as part of the 128th General Meeting of the Korean Chemical Society (KCS) in Busan, South Korea. It consists of a €1000 prize and an invitation to speak at the symposium with expenses covered.
Takuzo Aida is honored for his considerable scientific achievements as an innovative chemist and materials scientist and as a pioneer in the field of supramolecular polymerization and applications in the design of soft functional materials. This award also recognizes Aida’s inspirational role in the international scientific community, which exemplifies the global ACES approach.
Takuzo Aida, born in 1956, received his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1984 and began his academic career right away as an Assistant Professor at the same university, focusing on precision polymer synthesis. In 1996, he was promoted to Full Professor at the University of Tokyo in the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology. In 2008, he was appointed Director of the Riken Advanced Science Institute, and in 2013, he became Deputy Director of the Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science. Takuzo Aida also served as the Director of the JST ERATO AIDA Nanospace Project from 2000 to 2005 and of the JST ERATO-SORST Electronic Nanospace Project from 2005 to 2010.
Among many other awards, Aida has received the Society of Polymer Science Japan Award in 1993, the Inoue Prize for Science in 2005, the Chemical Society of Japan Award in 2008, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Polymer Chemistry in 2009, the Leo Esaki Prize in 2015, and the Japan Academy Prize in 2018. He serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and as a Member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science.
Selected Publications
- Anomalously Slow Conformational Change Dynamics of Polar Groups Anchored to Hydrophobic Surfaces in Aqueous Media,
Tengfei Fu, Hao Xing, Eric S. Silver, Yoshimitsu Itoh, Shuo Chen, Takuya Masuda, Kohei Uosaki, Feihe Huang, Takuzo Aida,
Chem. Asian J. 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.202000742 - Nematic-to-columnar mesophase transition by in situ supramolecular polymerization,
Keiichi Yano, Yoshimitsu Itoh, Fumito Araoka, Go Watanabe, Takaaki Hikima, Takuzo Aida,
Science 2019, 363, 161–165.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan1019 - Asymmetric catalysis mediated by a mirror symmetry-broken helical nanoribbon,
Zhaocun Shen, Yutao Sang, Tianyu Wang, Jian Jiang, Yan Meng, Yuqian Jiang, Kou Okuro, Takuzo Aida, Minghua Liu,
Nat. Commun. 2019.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11840-3 - Distinct Pathways in “Thermally Bisignate Supramolecular Polymerization”: Spectroscopic and Computational Studies,
Kotagiri Venkata Rao, Mathijs F. J. Mabesoone, Daigo Miyajima, Atsuko Nihonyanagi, E. W. Meijer, Takuzo Aida,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 142, 598–605.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b12044 - Extra-Large Mechanical Anisotropy of a Hydrogel with Maximized Electrostatic Repulsion between Cofacially Aligned 2D Electrolytes,
Koki Sano, Yuka Onuma Arazoe, Yasuhiro Ishida, Yasuo Ebina, Minoru Osada, Takayoshi Sasaki, Takaaki Hikima, Takuzo Aida,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 12508–12513.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201807240 - Jumping Crystals of Pyrene Tweezers: Crystal-to-Crystal Transition Involvingπ/π-to-CH/πAssembly Mode Switching,
Yoshiki Shibuya, Yoshimitsu Itoh, Takuzo Aida,
Chem. Asian J. 2017, 12, 811–815.
https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.201700083
Also of Interest
- On Supramolecular Polymerization: Interview with Takuzo Aida,
Takuzo Aida,
Adv. Mater. 2019, 32, 1905445.
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201905445 - Previous Ryoji Noyori ACES Awards
- Aida group website
