Education

In recent years, universities have been called upon to offer students an education that meets the needs of the current era. However, scholarship, which provides the basis of education, has a universal and unchanging element even as it evolves with the times. The discipline of molecular chemistry has seen dramatic growth over the last 25 years. Students in the Molecular Chemistry Design course explore the breadth and depth of this field through specialized courses that start during the second semester of their second year, developing fundamental skills that will play a useful role in the society of the future during their four years of undergraduate study. For more information, please see “Curriculum Characteristics” and “Curriculum.”
The course also works to offer cross-disciplinary study in collaboration with the other three courses (Polymeric Materials Design, Materials Chemistry Design, and Functional Materials Design).

Research

The course offers the following research opportunities exploring the theme of the diversity of organic molecular materials:

1. Research and development of fluorescent sensors that detect (recognize) particular molecules based on the principles of organic synthesis
2. Creation of fluorine functional molecules: Research into the creation of new useful substances containing fluorine with unique functionality and their application
3. Research into reactive polymer science and the combination (hybridization) of organic and inorganic substances
4. Creation of high-order functional materials based on precise polymerization and of new brush-shaped n-conjugated polymers
5. Creation of innovative polymeric materials through the development of elemental blocks and of supermolecules and polymers based on the principles of representative elemental chemistry
6. Creation and application of functional organic luminescent materials around the core themes of solid-state luminescence and long-life luminescence
7. Creation of porphyrin glass that emits near-infrared light with the goal of exploring biological applications
8. Development and application of molecules with quasi-biological functions using the techniques of organic chemistry
9. Development of new polymerization reactions and their use in separation chemistry targeting intermolecular interactions
10. Development of interface materials that function at boundaries and elucidation of their boundary behavior