- Koji Nakanishi
Koji Nakanishi, a bioorganic and natural products
chemist , is Centennial Professor ofChemistry and former Chairman of the Chemistry Department,Columbia University .He was born in
Hong Kong on May 11, 1925. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry fromNagoya University in 1947 from Prof. Fujio Egami. Following two years of post-graduate work with Prof.Louis Fieser atHarvard University , he returned to Nagoya University where he completed his Ph.D. in 1954 with Prof. Yoshimasa Hirata. He took a position as Assistant Professor at Nagoya, and then Professor of Chemistry atTokyo Kyoiku University . In 1963 he moved toTohoku University in Sendai and remained there until 1969 when he joined the faculty of Columbia University. In 1980 he became Centennial Professor of Chemistry. He was Chairman of the Chemistry Department, 1987-90. [ [http://www.chemecol.org/newsletters/vol_23_3.htm#silver ISCE Newletter Vol_23_3 ] ]He was a founding member and one of the six Directors of Research at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology in
Kenya , the first Director of the nonprofitSuntory Institute for Bioorganic Research (Sunbor),Osaka , and he assisted the Brazilian government to set up a center of excellence in the Amazons, the Institute of Medicinal and Ecological Chemistry with its headquarters inSao Paolo . In April 2001 he was asked to start a chemistry unit withinBiosphere 2 , Arizona, operated byColumbia University .His research encompasses isolation, structural and bioorganic studies of bioactive compounds, retinal proteins, interaction between ligands and neuroreceptors, development of various spectroscopic methods, especially circular dichroic spectroscopy. He has published around 750 papers, and has authored, co-authored, or edited nine books on spectroscopy and natural products. Koji Nakanishi has determined the structures of over 200 biologically active animal and plant natural products, many of which are endogenous and/or the first member of a new class. These include ginkgolides from the ancient
ginkgo tree, first insect molting hormones from plants, new nucleic acid bases, insect antifeedants,antibiotic s, first meiosis inducing substance fromstarfish , crustacean molt inhibitors, shark repellents from fish,tunicate blood pigments,brevetoxin s from red-tidedinoflagellate s,philanthotoxin (glutamate andnicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist) from awasp , and the human eye pigment involved in macular degeneration.His studies with retinal analogs and retinal proteins have made seminal contributions in understanding the structural and mechanistic basis of animal vision and
phototaxis . In 2000 his research group succeeded in clarifying relative movements of the retinal and theopsin receptor throughout the visual transduction process; this is the first such study performed withG protein coupled receptors (GPCR) and will contribute in clarifying the mode of action of numerous other GPCRs. It also established the structure and biosynthesis of the fluorescent pigment A2E that leads to the incurable eye diseaseage-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its involvement in apoptosis.His spectroscopic contributions include the first applications of the NMR
nuclear Overhauser effect in structure determination during theginkgolide studies (1967), and in particular development of the [exciton coupled circular dichroic method] (1969), a non-empirical sub-microgram scale technique for determining various aspects of molecularchirality of organic molecules in solution, an extremely versatile technique applicable to compounds ranging from small molecules to various types ofligand / receptor complexes.As of December 2002, approximately 425 students and postdoctoral fellows have spent a period of time in his group, i.e., 95 in Japan and 330 at Columbia University. About 140 of his former colleagues hold academic positions at universities.
He has received awards from U.S.A., Japan, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Holland, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and U.K. In an unprecedented international alliance, the Nakanishi Prize of the
American Chemical Society (ACS) and theChemical Society of Japan (CSJ) was established in 1996 and is awarded in alternate years in Japan and the U.S. to recognize achievements in chemical and spectroscopic methods to the study of biological phenomena; it is the only CSJ prize with an individual’s name. More recently in 1999, he was awarded one of Japan's highest honors, "Person of Cultural Merit " [ [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/99/11/japanPrize.html Columbia News ::: Columbia Chemist Koji Nakanishi Wins Prestigious Japanese Prize ] ] for his breakthrough research in the organic chemistry of natural products. example.com link title.Earlier this month, he was invited to
Saudi Arabia as a recipient of the prestigiousKing Faisal International Prize in Science .When Koji Nakanishi appears at a reception where he is scheduled to receive an award or to present a scientific paper, the audience could most generally expect an added spectacular surprise treat, as Koji is a famous and talented magician. [ [http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/koji_nakanishi.html Koji Nakanishi ] ]
Notes
References
* [http://www.jce.divched.org/JCEWWW/Features/eChemists/document.php?chemid=28 Biographical snapshots: Koji Nakanishi,] "Journal of Chemical Education" web site.
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