INTRODUCTION Ryoji Noyori: Pioneer of Asymmetric Molecular Catalysis
I am delighted and honored to make some introductory remarks for this special commemorative issue of Chirality honoring Professor Ryoji Noyori, the recipient of the 1997 Chirality Medal Award, which was conferred upon him at the 9th International Symposium on Chiral Discrimination (ISCD-97) in Nagoya, Japan. Above all, as the guest editor, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who were engaged in this edition. Forty-three original articles grace the pages of this issue; they cover a broad range of chirality-related research, including asymmetric syntheses of important organic molecules, asymmetric homogeneous or heterogeneous catalyses, mechanistic studies, inorganic syntheses of chiral metal complexes, structural studies of chiral molecules in solution or in the solid phase, the development of new methods for determining enantiomeric excesses, and novel methods for screening enantioselective catalysts. Unfortunately, time and space limitations rendered it impossible to invite all of the individuals who are Ryoji Noyori's colleagues, friends, ex-postdocs, and ex-students.
On 1 December 1983, I joined the Noyori group at Nagoya University as the seventh Assistant Professor after receiving my doctorate in Agriculture under the supervision of Professors Toshio Goto and Minoru Isobe at Nagoya University and after having spent a half-year postdoctoral period with Professor Gilbert Stork at Columbia University. In the well-organized office of Ryoji Noyori, 45 years old at the time, I was given a persuasive talk about the importance of "Asymmetric Catalysis," as well as on "Chirality" for the creation of chemical, physical, and biological functional molecules for the next century. Dr. Noyori told me about molecular chirality and how it is a principal element in nature and plays a key role in science and technology. He taught me that a wide range of biological and physical functions are generated through precise molecular recognition that requires the strict matching of chirality. Therefore, any discovery of truly efficient methods of obtaining chiral substances is a substantial challenge for synthetic chemists. In the ensuing 17 years, I have taken his advice about what became my target molecules, which then completely changed from rather complicated natural products to simple chiral alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids, etc. My time collaborating with Professor Noyori is now the longest among those of other distinguished successive