Shunichi Matsumura, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, won a GSC Poster Award in the 3rd JACI/GSC Symposium

Shunichi Matsumura in the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, won a GSC Poster Award in the 3rd JACI/GSC Symposium. The symposium was held in May 2014 by Japan Association for Chemical Innovation (JACI) in order to promote and propagate Green and Sustainable Chemistry (GSC).

<About awarded research>
Mineralized tissues such as bones, teeth, and shells are called biominerals. They are inorganic/organic hybrids with sophisticated hierarchical ordered structures which can not be artificially synthesized. Biomineralization, the formation process of biominerals, is a self-organization process in mild condition using abundant resources on the earth. Therefore, biomineralization is attracted much attention for developing new methods to synthesize environmentally-friendly functional materials. Exoskeleton of crustaceans is one of such biominerals which has high mechanical properties derived from a helical ordered structure composed of calcium carbonate and biopolymers. Herein, we prepared inorganic/organic hybrids with three-dimensionally ordered structures mimicking compositions and structures of the exoskeleton of crustaceans using a cholesteric liquid-crystalline template. This study leads to the development of new biocompatible structural materials.

<Comments>
I am really grateful to Prof. Takashi Kato and also our lab members for their support. I will continue to do my best studying researches.