Rate My Professor Tomohiro Yasukawa

Dr. Tomohiro Yasukawa is a Lecturer in the School of Chemistry at Monash University. He obtained his BSc in 2010, MSc in 2012, and PhD in 2015 from The University of Tokyo under the supervision of Professor Shu Kobayashi. During his doctoral studies, he spent three months in 2013 as a visiting student in the research group of Professor Frank Glorius at the University of Münster, Germany. After completing his PhD, Yasukawa was appointed as a Project Assistant Professor in the Green & Sustainable Chemistry Social Cooperation Laboratory at The University of Tokyo, serving from April 2015 to September 2022. He then moved to France for postdoctoral research in the group of Professor Jannie Cossy at ESPCI Paris from October 2022 to March 2024. Returning briefly to The University of Tokyo as Project Assistant Professor from April to October 2024, he joined Monash University as Lecturer in October 2024.

The research in Yasukawa's laboratory centers on the development of heterogeneous catalysts for green and sustainable organic reactions. Key efforts involve using carbon-based materials, particularly nitrogen-doped carbon, as supports to create metal nanoparticle catalysts and single-atom catalysts (SACs) with strong metal-support interactions and localized single metal active sites. These catalysts facilitate diverse transformations, including hydrogenation, aerobic oxidation, C-C bond forming reactions, and carbene insertion reactions. Additional interests encompass electrochemical synthesis, where catalysts serve as electrodes, and continuous flow reactions for enhanced safety, efficiency, and scalability. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals including Good Health and Well-being, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, and Climate Action. Notable recent publications include 'Earth-Abundant Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions of 1-Bromo-Cyclobut-1-enes with Grignard Reagents' (Synlett, 2025), '[4+2] Cycloadditions (Normal-Electron-Demand Hetero-Diels–Alder Reaction)' (Comprehensive Chirality, 2024), 'Biocatalytic Enantioselective Reduction of Cyclopropenyl Esters and Ketones Using Ene-Reductases' (ACS Catalysis, 2024), 'Continuous-Flow Asymmetric Hydrogenation for the Synthesis of an (S)-Metolachlor Intermediate Using Catalysts Immobilized on a Core/Shell-Type Support' (Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, 2024), and 'Development of nitrogen-doped carbon-supported metal catalysts for green organic synthesis' (Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, 2024).