Blog

The 28th Symposium of Chiral Compounds

2018.10.25

Hello everyone! Its me, Cassandra Lim. It feels like ages since I have written a proper blog, Today’s blog is about the 28th Chemistry Symposium at the University of Tokyo. The lecturers invited to this Symposium are famous and well-known lecturers who have won many awards and prizes.

When I first arrived the University of Tokyo, I was amazed by the architecture of the building especially the red gate. It makes me feel like I am in a Japanese traditional castle instead of a university. On my way there, I was a bit lost because all the buildings look almost the same but luckily a nice bodyguard helped and guided me to the symposium.

As I entered the room, I was surprised by the number of people in attendance of this symposium. This is because I was told that few people might be present only including the lecturers. Moving forward, the first lecturer was Hamachi Itaru sensei from Kyoto University. I was most intrigued and impressed by his lecture titled ‘Ligand-directed Chemistry for Endogenous Protein Modification’. His presentation was very well presented with colourful diagrams and easily understandable by all people. It was his used of Tosylhydrazones substrate as receptors that intrigued me the most as it is related to my project.

The next lecturer, Shionoya Mitsuhiko (Univ. of Tokyo) was also very interesting who presented Supramolecular architectures concerning gear systems. The next two lecturers Yokoshima Satoshi (Nagoya University) and Herbert Waldmann (Max Planck Institute). Satoshi Sensei’s lecture was more related to the classes I have been taking in Waseda University so all I did was just understanding his slide. On the other hand, Mr. Waldmann’s lecture was a bit too long and it seems to be more into medicinal chemistry.

: Hamachi Itaru (Kyoto Uni)

: Shionoya Mitsuhiko (Univ of Tokyo)

: Yokoshima Satoshi (Nagoya Univ)

: Herbert Waldmann (Yamada-Koga Prize 2018)

Lastly, I find myself actually enjoying the lecture and it was an eye-opening lecture. I wish to learn more from any lectures in the near future. In this regard, I will end my blog here. Thank you.