[No. 23] Takeshi Okuma

The other day, I visited the Yagami Campus for the first time in a long while. I was there to attend a ceremony as one of the recipients of the 2005 award from the Research and Education Encouragement Fund of the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology Alumni Association. I had the honor of being in the company of graduates from our faculty who are active on the global stage, and it was one of the best days of my life. The thrill of receiving the award certificate from Alumni Association President Ichiro Kitazato will be a lifelong memory. Everyone has turning points that shape their lives, and for me, it was enrolling in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University. For someone like me who had only known the structured routine of high school, my first and second years were almost frighteningly free. However, I soon realized I was in an environment where I could learn anything I wished. I came to feel firsthand that the spirit of "independence and self-respect" I had so admired is something that blossoms on a foundation of self-responsibility.

When it came time to choose a department in my third year, I opted for the newly established Department of Chemistry. This was because many professors from the Department of Chemistry had taught me in my liberal arts courses, and I was very attracted to the idea of being part of the "first class of the Department of Chemistry." My student life in the Department of Chemistry was very fortunate. It was a series of firsts not only for us students but also for the professors, so I feel that every day was filled with a pleasant sense of tension and anticipation. I was very lucky to be given ample time and information to decide on a research laboratory. Since there were no students other than the senior students who had entered the Major in Chemistry from graduate school, I was able to freely visit the laboratories during my third year as an undergraduate. I could directly hear the professors' passion for their research and see what the research was like. I was also allowed to participate in laboratory seminars and lectures.

As I visited these laboratories, I became interested in developing new synthetic organic reactions, and for my laboratory assignment, I requested to join the lab of the late Professor Genichi Dobashi. A major reason was that I was drawn to Professor Dobashi's personality. I am now a faculty member at Hokkaido University, and I strive to model my attitude toward students after Professor Dobashi. He would enter the lecture hall carrying a thick textbook by House and teach us the real thrill of synthetic organic reactions. He always provided appropriate and thorough answers to my questions, and there were times when he would show me a concrete example from the library literature immediately after a lecture. The passion hidden within his kindness is something I feel I can never truly imitate.

Life in the laboratory was very fulfilling. I was directly supervised by Professor Keisuke Suzuki (now a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology), who was an assistant at the time. I was often scolded for being late for our 9:30 a.m. meetings. Looking back, I was quite an impertinent student and caused him a lot of trouble. The theme of my graduation research was the synthesis of an insect pheromone called eldanolide, using a reaction developed in the Dobashi laboratory as the key step, but I was so selfish as to say, "I don't want to do it because it's not a theme aimed at developing a new reaction." In the end, I took on this theme and completed the 10-step synthesis with a total yield of 30%. Based on these results, Professor Suzuki helped me prepare my memorable first paper. By then, I was shamelessly telling my classmates what a great research theme I had been given.

The most memorable and appreciated experience during my three years in the laboratory was being allowed to search for a new reaction on my own in the spring of my second year of the master's program. I spent about half a month holed up in the library to choose a theme. For someone with my limited knowledge, this was a daunting task, but it became a great opportunity to look at the trends in global research. I seriously considered what needed to be accomplished now in the field of organic chemistry. It was around this time that I learned about the "research on asymmetric catalytic reactions" published by Professor Noyori of Nagoya University, which prompted me to advance to the Doctoral Programs at Nagoya University, and it remains my main research theme to this day.

Well, once the theme was decided, the next step was to put it into practice, but in the end, every scenario I envisioned ended in failure. I realized that reality is not so simple. However, good things can happen if you keep experimenting without getting discouraged, and the turning point came from an unexpected place. When I performed a known reaction on a silicon-containing compound for the purpose of synthesizing a starting material, I obtained an unexpected skeletal rearrangement product. It was the moment I discovered a new reaction with my own hands for the first time. I felt an indescribable excitement and satisfaction. Perhaps the reason I continue to research synthetic organic chemistry today is that I can't forget the exhilaration of that new discovery. My position and experience are completely different from back then, but my attitude of taking on new challenges remains the same.

Sapporo in July is truly pleasant. Even now, a cool breeze is blowing in through the open window. In the laboratory across the way, students, much like my younger self, are conducting research to achieve new reactions. I hope to pass on to them the "heart to dream" and the "strong will to achieve one's goals" that my professors at Keio University gave to me.