is a Japanese chemist and

Nobel Prize Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

(2010), who first published the

Suzuki reaction The Suzuki reaction is an organic reaction, classified as a cross-coupling reaction, where the coupling partners are a boronic acid and an organohalide and the catalyst is a palladium, palladium(0) complex. It was first published in 1979 by Akira ...

, the organic reaction of an

aryl In organic chemistry, an aryl is any functional group or substituent derived from an aromaticity, aromatic ring, usually an aromatic hydrocarbon, such as phenyl and naphthyl. "Aryl" is used for the sake of abbreviation or generalization, and "Ar ...

- or

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

boronic acid A boronic acid is an organic compound related to boric acid () in which one of the three hydroxyl groups () is replaced by an alkyl or aryl group (represented by R in the general formula ). As a compound containing a carbon–boron bond, membe ...

with an aryl- or vinyl- halide catalyzed by a palladium(0)

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

, in 1979.

Early life and education

Suzuki was born on September 12, 1930, in Mukawa, Hokkaidō, his father died when he was in high school. He studied chemistry at

Hokkaido University , or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...

(Hokudai) and after receiving his PhD while he worked there as assistant professor. He initially wanted to major in mathematics, his favorite subject in childhood was arithmetic.『朝日小学生新聞』2010年10月8日 It was an encounter with two books that became an opportunity to advance to the path of organic synthesis, one is ''Textbook of Organic Chemistry'' written by

Louis Fieser Louis Frederick Fieser (April 7, 1899 – July 25, 1977) was an American organic chemist, professor, and in 1968, professor emeritus at Harvard University. He is known for inventing military effective napalm whilst he worked at Harvard in 194 ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, and another is ''Hydroboration'' written by Herbert C. Brown of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

Career

From 1963 until 1965, Suzuki worked as a postdoctoral student with Herbert C. Brown at

and after returning to the Hokudai he became a full professor there. The postdoctoral experience was utilized in the study of the

coupling reaction A coupling reaction in organic chemistry is a general term for a variety of reactions where two fragments are joined together with the aid of a metal catalyst. In one important reaction type, a main group organometallic compound of the type R-M (R = ...

with his assistant

Norio Miyaura was a Japanese organic chemist. He was a professor of graduate chemical engineering at Hokkaido University. His major accomplishments surrounded his work in cross-coupling reactions / conjugate addition reactions of organoboronic acids (for C-C b ...

and led to the discovery of

announced in 1979. Its organic

boronic acids A boronic acid is an organic compound related to boric acid () in which one of the three hydroxyl groups () is replaced by an alkyl or aryl group (represented by R in the general formula ). As a compound containing a carbon–boron bond, membe ...

with

and

vinyl group In organic chemistry, a vinyl group (abbr. Vi; IUPAC name: ethenyl group) is a functional group with the formula . It is the ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) molecule () with one fewer hydrogen atom. The name is also used for any compound contai ...

are stable to water and air, easy to handle, and because the conditions required for use are also relatively mild, even among the several cross-coupling techniques, it is said to be easy to use. Its full mechanism is shown in the image below. Suzuki Coupling Full Mechanism 2

With his retirement from Hokudai in 1994 he took several positions in other universities: 1994–1995

Okayama University of Science is a private university in Okayama, Okayama, Japan, established in 1964. It is predominantly a school of science and engineering. Notable events From 2015–2018, Okayama University of Science's operator, the group Kake Gakuen, applied for ...

and 1995–2002 Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts. In addition, he was an invited professor at Purdue University (2001),

Academic Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

and the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

(2002). In 2010, Suzuki was jointly awarded the

Nobel Prize for Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

together with Richard F. Heck and

Ei-ichi Negishi was a Japanese chemist who was best known for his discovery of the Negishi coupling. He spent most of his career at Purdue University in the United States, where he was the Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor and the director of the Negi ...

. To celebrate International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011), Suzuki was interviewed by the ''

UNESCO Courier ''The UNESCO Courier'' is the main magazine published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It has the largest and widest-ranging readership of all the journals published by the United Nations and its sp ...

'' magazine, he said：

Today some people see chemistry just as a polluting industry, but that is a mistake ... Without it, productivity would drop and we could not enjoy the life we know today. If there is pollution, it is because we are releasing harmful substances. Obviously, we have to adapt treatment and management regimes and work to develop chemical substances and manufacturing processes that respect the environment.

In 2014, a Canadian-Chinese student asked for Suzuki's advice: "how can I become a great chemist like you?", Suzuki answered him: "... above all else, you must learn to see through the appearance to perceive the essence."

Invention without patent

Suzuki has not obtained a patent on

technology because he thinks that the research was supported by government funds, therefore coupling technology has become widespread, and many products using this technology have been put into practical use. To date, there are more than 6,000 papers and patents related to Suzuki reaction.『朝日新聞』2010年10月7日

Recognition

*1986 – Weissberger-Williams lectureship Award *1987 – Korean Chemical Society Award *1989 – Chemical Society of Japan Award *1995 – DowElanco lectureship Award *2000 – The H. C. Brown Lecture Award *2003 – Japan Academy Prize *2009 –

Paul Karrer Gold Medal The Paul Karrer Gold Medal and Lecture is awarded annually or biennially by the University of Zurich to an outstanding researcher in the field of chemistry. It was established in 1959 by a group of leading companies, including CIBA AG, J.R. Gei ...

*2009 – Special Member of

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Instit ...

(RSC) *2010 –

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

*2010 –

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipient ...

*2010 – Person of Cultural Merit *2011 – Member of the

Japan Academy The Japan Academy ( Japanese: 日本学士院, ''Nihon Gakushiin'') is an honorary organisation and science academy founded in 1879 to bring together leading Japanese scholars with distinguished records of scientific achievements. The Academy is ...

*2011 – honored on a stamp issued by Republic of the Congo *2016 – Honorary chair professorship, National Cheng Kung University

References

External links