The Research work of Dr. Ishida ‐ including Syntheses and Their Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction of Dinuclear Metal Complexes with Peptide Linkages project

The process of photosynthesis holds potential to be harnessed for addressing increasing CO2 levels, as well as for finding solutions for energy shortages resulting from depleted fossil fuel reserves. Professor Hitoshi Ishida, Laboratory on Functional Metal Complexes, Kansai University, has extensive expertise in creating artificial enzymes and is interested in developing techniques to emulate photosynthesis. The plan is to create a new photocatalyst by combining photochemical CO2 reduction catalytic reactions for artificial photosynthesis with the technology of functional molecule design using ‘peptide origami’, whereby proteins fold to form higher-order structures and exhibit functions. Ishida and his team are seeking to achieve artificial photosynthesis by using ruthenium complexes as catalysts in CO2 reduction reactions that can reduce CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO) and formic acid (HCOOH), which are useful as energy sources. Ishida has created functional molecules combining metal complexes with proteins, including artificial metalloproteins ‐ a type of protein containing a metal ion ‐ using synthetic bipyridyl amino acid 5Bpy. This focused on a rare transition metal called ruthenium as the ruthenium complexes the researchers are investigating have a selectivity for carbon monoxide and formic acid reduction products that change depending on the reaction conditions. The ultimate goal of Ishida’s work is to find a solution to the problem of pollution, while addressing the need for alternatives to fossil fuels.