Kenichiro Itami
Biography. Ken’ichiro Itami was born in Pennsylvania, United States. After receiving his Ph.D under the supervision of Yoshihiki Ito, he was appointed as an assistant professor in Jun-ichi Yoshida’s lab in Kyoto University. Later in 2005, he was promoted to associate professor in Ryōji Noyori's laboratory in Nagoya University, where he later started his own laboratory in 2008. His research interests include the development of new strategies and methodologies in catalytic molecular synthesis through C–H transformation, rapid synthesis of new bioactive molecules, pharmaceutically relevant molecules and natural products, synthesis and properties of optoelectronic  materials and controlled bottom-up synthesis of nanocarbons. In 2017 and 2018, he was selected as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics. Academic career Research. Focusing on connecting molecules to create value, the Itami Group focuses on the development of new catalyst and new reactions for rapid syntheses of functional molecules including small molecules for plant biology and chronobiology, pharmaceuticals, p-conjugated organic materials, and molecular nanocarbons. In 2017, they succeeded in synthesizing the first ‘nanocarbon belt.’ Scientific misconduct. He fabricated data in the widely publicized graphene nanoribbon fraud.