1st International Forum on Applied Chemistry
Date; Wednesday 19th March 2014
Venue: Medium Conference Room of International
Center (1st floor)

Program
13:30; Opening Remarks Professor Katsumi Uchiyama
Chair; Yuji Kubo

13:35 ‒ 14:05; Dr. Manabu Tanaka (Tokyo Metropolitan University)
Ion Conductive Polymer Nanofibers: Application to Polymer
Electrolyte Fuel Cells
Electrospun polymer nanofibers have been extensively studied because of their unique properties
and wide applications. Here I present our recent work on ion conductive nanofibers and theirapplication to polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Intrinsic proton conductivities of sulfonated polyimide
nanofibers were measured by aligning the nanofibers between parallel electrodes. Anion conductive
nanofibers were first prepared, and their conductivities were evaluated. Novel composite
membranes containing various nanofibers were fabricated to show distinguished proton
conductivities under low humidity conditions by utilizing inside and interface of nanofibers. Organic
nanoionics on ion conductive nanofibers are academically interesting as well as their practicalapplications to fuel cells.

14:05 ‒ 14:35; Dr. Kiyoshi Sato (Tokyo Metropolitan University)
Synthesis of Polycyclic Heteroaromatic Cations
Azonia derivatives of coronene and helicene are highly soluble polycyclic heteroaromatic cations
with planar disk-shaped and helically twisted conformations, respectively. These π-electron systems
are effective electron- accepting chromophores associated with the presence of bridgeheadquaternary nitrogen atoms. Recently, they have also received growing interest because of being
considered as a valuable model compound for nitrogen-doped graphene. In this lecture, an
overview of the photochemical syntheses of these unique compounds from our earlier work andrecent results will be presented together with their core chemical and physical properties. Moreover,their potential applications will be discussed.

14:35 ‒ 15:35; Professor Tony D. James (University of Bath)Boronic Acids: Recognition, Sensing and AssemblyHis brief biography and lecture content are shown in next page.

Boronic Acids: Recognition, Sensing and Assembly
Tony D James
Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY UK.
Email: t.d.james@bath.ac.uk Web: www.chemosensors.com

Brief Biography: He is a Professor at the University of Bath where his research interests include many aspects ofSupramolecular chemistry, including: molecular recognition, molecular self-assembly and sensor design. Within the areaof molecular recognition his research has a particular focus on boronic acid based receptors for the fluorescence sensingof saccharides. He has developed a broad interdisciplinary approach to research, with an underpinning focus on thedevelopment of modular sensors where he has pioneered a range of reporting regimes. He has been a visiting professor
at Tsukuba, Osaka and Kyushu Universities and is a guest Professor at East China University of Science and Technology,Xiamen University, Shandong Normal University, Nanjing University and is a Haitian Scholar at Dalian University ofTechnology. He has published over 160 publications, including one book, 9 book chapters and 159 papers in international
peer reviewed journals. He has an h-index of 45. He led a Japan-UK team awarded a 2013 Daiwa-Adrian Prize forscientific collaboration.
Lecture Content: The ability to monitor analytes within physiological, environmental and industrial scenarios is of prime
importance. Since recognition events occur on a molecular level, gathering and processing the information poses afundamental challenge. Therefore robust chemical molecular sensors “chemosensors” with the capacity to detect chosen
molecules selectively and signal this presence continue to attract considerable attention. Real-time monitoring ofsaccharides is of particular interest, such as D-glucose in blood. Towards that end the covalent coupling interaction
between boronic acids and saccharides has been exploited with some success to monitor the presence of suchsaccharides. The boronic acid Lewis acid-base interaction is also suitable for the capture and recognition of anions.
Anions are involved in fundamental processes in all living things. Our aim as synthetic chemists is to mimic nature’s levelof sophistication in designing and producing chemosensors capable of determining the concentration of a target analytes(ie saccharides and anions) in any medium.
One recent and particularly interesting
application to be presented is the use ofboronic acid based receptors for protein
glycation analysis. Protein glycation is an
importantbiomarker

forage-relateddisorders such as diabetes and Alzheimer’sdisease. This process whereby reducing
saccharides react with amino groups ofproteins ultimately leads to the formation ofcomplex and stable advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). Glycation compromises proteins throughout the bodyresulting in many diabetes related complications (e.g., nerve damage, heart attack, and blindness). Glycated proteins andtheir resulting AGE products are also key elements in the pathology of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Selected recent references:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

S. D. Bull, M. G. Davidson, J. M. H. van den Elsen, J. S. Fossey, Y. Kubo, F. Marken, A. T. A. Jenkins, Y.-B. Jiang, K. Sakurai,J. Zhao, T. D. James, Acc. Chem. Res., 2013, 46. 312–326.
X. Wu, Z. Li, X.-X. Chen, J. S. Fossey, T. D. James, Y.-B. Jiang, Chem. Soc. Rev, 2013, 42, 8032-8048
Y.-J. Huang, W.-J. Ouyang, X. Wu, Z. Li, J. S. Fossey, T. D. James and Y.-B. Jiang J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2013, 135, 1700–1703.
X. Sun, S.-Y. Xu, S. E. Flower, J. S. Fossey, X. Qian and T. D. James, Chem. Commun, 2013, 49, 8311-8313