RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science Advanced Catalysis Research Group

Group Director: Zhaomin Hou (D.Eng.)

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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. Chi, M., Sun, L., Nishiura, M., Huang, L., Zhang, H., Higaki, Y., Lee, S., Fukuda, K., Zhao, Y., Someya, T., Hou, Z.:
"Thioether-Functionalized Self-Healing Polyolefins for Flexible Conductors"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 147, 23128–23135. (2025).
2. Shao, J., Huang, L., Lou, S., Ohno, A., Yamada, Y., Nishiura, M., Murahashi, T., Hou, Z.:
"Synthesis of Rigid Stepladder Polymers via Scandium-Catalyzed Polyspiroannulation of Quinoline with Alkyne"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 147, 1416–1420 (2025)
3. Shima, T., Zhuo, Q., Zhou, X., Wu, P., Owada, R., Luo, G., and Hou, Z.:
"Hydroamination of alkenes with dinitrogen and titanium polyhydrides"
Nature, 632, 307-312 (2024)
4. Huang, L., Yang, Y., Shao, J., Xiong, G., Wang, H., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Synthesis of Tough and Fluorescent Self-Healing Elastomers by Scandium-Catalyzed Terpolymerization of Pyrenylethenylstyrene, Ethylene, and Anisylpropylene"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 146, 2718-2727 (2024)
5. Zhuo, Q., Yang, J., Zhou, X., Shima, T., Luo, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Aza-Michael Addition of Dinitrogen to α, β-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds in a Dititanium Framework"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 145, 22803-22813 (2023)
6. Mishra, A., Cong, X., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Enantioselective Synthesis of 1-Aminoindanes via [3 + 2] Annulation of Aldimines with Alkenes by Scandium-Catalyzed C–H Activation"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 145, 17468-17477. (2023)
7. Sahoo, H., Zhang, L., Cheng, J., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Auto-Tandem Copper-Catalyzed Carboxylation of Undirected Alkenyl C–H Bonds with CO2 by Harnessing β-Hydride Elimination"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 144, 23585-23594. (2022)
8. Wang, H., Yang, Y., Nishiura, M., Hong, Y., Nishiyama, Y., Higaki, Y., and Hou, Z.:
"Making Polyisoprene Self-Healable through Microstructure Regulation by Rare-Earth Catalysts"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 61, e202210023. (2022)
9. Lou, S., Luo, G., Yamaguchi, S., An, K., Nishiura, M., and Hou, Z.:
"Modular Access to Spiro-dihydroquinolines via Scandium-Catalyzed Dearomative Annulation of Quinolines with Alkynes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 143, 20462-20471. (2021)
10. 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).