The
Romance
of
雷速体育_中国足彩网￥在线直播 Takeaki
Iwamoto

One of my goals is to try to pioneer new molecular and materials science through the synergy of organic and main group chemistry.

How would you explain your research to a non-scientist?

I am an organic chemist, and my research centers on the chemistry of silicon from an organic chemistry perspective. Silicon is a very naturally abundant element - many rocks and stones are made of silicon - and it's a typical element for inorganic compounds and materials.

We use silicon a lot in our daily lives, don’t we?

Yes, silicon gives us the semiconductors used in computers and cell phones. It also gives us useful materials like silicone, which is an organosilicon compound that bridges inorganic and organic substances. Silicones are soft materials but also very resistant to heat. That's why we can use it for things like seals and covers in car engines, and cup covers that you can put in the microwave. It is also used in shampoo to make hair smooth!

These days, silicon is used in turbines for jet engines. Previously, these turbines were made of nickel alloy, which was very heavy. Silicon carbide, which is much lighter and extremely heat resistant, helps reduce jet fuel consumption. These silicon carbide fibers are produced from organosilicon compounds. So, developing new silicon compounds and materials can be very helpful to society, which is what my work is about.

How did you get interested in this topic as a young student researcher?

When I was an undergraduate student, I learned from my mentors Professor Hideki Sakurai and Professor Mitsuo Kira that silicon cannot always form compounds similar to carbon even though they are in the same group in the periodic table, and I became very interested in why that is. At that time, there were very few examples of silicon compounds with double or triple bonds, which are common in carbon chemistry. Theoretical studies predicted that the structure of such silicon compounds would be quite different from carbon-carbon bonds. I wanted to understand why silicon and other group-14 elements form different structures.

Was your curiosity purely academic, or was there an event that triggered your interest?

It was both. When I was a child, I lived near mountains and fields, and I was very interested in why plants and insects had different shapes and colors. For instance, pine trees have needle-like leaves while gingko trees have fan-shaped leaves. I was also fascinated by the shapes of branches and small creatures.

Now as a researcher, have you found answers to those childhood questions?

In some cases, yes. I now understand that the colors of vegetables come from organic compounds inside them, and the number of double bonds is important in determining their appearance. And the colors of insects often come from structural features on their surface. But there is obviously still a lot that I don't have answers for. Whenever I see strange plants and insects, especially on my travels, I still have the curiosity and want to know why they look the way they do.