Naturally occurring plants and microorganisms produce many organic compounds (natural products) with structures beyond human imagination. Some of them are used as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, lead compounds in drug development, biosensors, etc., because they exhibit excellent physiological and biological activities. In order to effectively use natural products to enrich human life, it is necessary to discover unknown natural products, to understand the functions of natural products, to know how organisms synthesize natural products, and to synthesize natural products artificially. Synthetic research is especially important because it is difficult to supply sufficient amounts of natural products from biological resources alone.
We are conducting basic research to achieve efficient artificial synthesis of natural products by combining a wide variety of chemical reactions, developing new reactions to synthesize complex structures, and utilizing specific enzymatic reactions. We also aim to contribute to related fields and society by developing drugs and elucidating their functions through the quantitative supply of natural products achieved through the accumulation of basic research.