Prof. Dr. Kazuyuki Tatsumi

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsInorganic Molecular Chemistry,Theoretical Chemistry: Electron Structure, Dynamics, Simulation
KeywordsMetalloenzyme, Metal-Sulfide Clusters, Transition Metal Chalcogenides, Organometallic Complexes, Activation of Small Molecules

Current contact address

CountryJapan
CityNagoya
InstitutionNagoya University
InstituteResearch Center for Materials Science
Homepagehttp://www.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~ic/frame.html

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Gerhard ErkerOrganisch-Chemisches Institut, Universität Münster, Münster
Start of initial sponsorship01/07/2004

Programme(s)

2004Humboldt Research Award Programme

Nominator's project description

Kazuyuki Tatsumi is a Chemistry Professor at the Research Center for Materials Science at Nagoya University, Japan. He receives the Humboldt Award for his outstanding research done at the interface between Inorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry. His exciting current work deals with the construction of functional models of the essential core groups of metalloenzymes. He has just recently completed the synthesis of the framework of one of the subunits of the enzyme Nitrogenase - namely the "P-cluster" that contains a combination of eight iron and seven sulfur atoms in a polycyclic array. Professor Tatsumi's work spans a bridge between important subdisciplines of Chemistry, such as Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, and of Biology. In addition, he uses theoretical methods to understand the key features and reaction pathways taken in the chemistry of the organometallic and bioinorganic molecular systems studied in his research group. The collaborative work between the Nagoya group and his hosts in Münster will focus on synthetic organometallic chalcogene chemistry, which provides some of the tools for the construction of artificial clusters of bioinorganic relevance. Professor Tatsumi has been one of the key figures in a current application to potentially establish a first Japanese/German JSPS/DFG Research Training Group between the Nagoya and Münster Universities.