Chemistry: A Bridge between Molecular World and Real World

Abstract

This essay summarizes a personal history of studies on fluoride-mediated reactions of enol silyl ethers, metal homoenolate, cytochalasin and cortisone synthesis, cycloaddition chemistry of cyclopropenone acetals and dipolar trimethylenemethanes, biological activity of organofullerenes and DNA and siRNA delivery, organocuprate(I) reaction mechanisms, iron-catalyzed cross coupling and C-H activation reactions, ¹⁵O labeling for positron emission tomography (PET), functional fullerene molecules including bucky ferrocene, shuttlecock molecules and [10]cyclophenacene, fullerene bilayer vesicles, new design materials for organic and lead perovskite solar-cell fabrication, carbon-bridged oligophenylene vinylenes and single-molecule atomic-resolution real-time transmission electron microscopy (SMART-EM) for structural and kinetic studies of molecules and molecular clusters. It also describes how the encounters with key people may change the course of your scientific research as well as of your personal life. These examples suggest that life is a stochastic process, and, moreover, science in the future would be something that we do not even imagine now as a subject of research.