On Nov 1st, 2019, Prof. Takuzo Aida from the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Tokyo attended the 139th Master Distinguished Lecture and delivered a lecture titled The Meaning and Applicatios of Supermolecular Polymerization in Material Science.

Before the lecture, the Master-Dialogue luncheon was held for Prof. Aida and the faculties and students of SJTU. They had in-depth exchanges on various topics such as research interests, project design and time management. Prof. Aida encouraged undergraduates to participate actively in laboratory work and know more about research work in advance. Besides, several professors of SJTU had lively discussions with Prof. Aida on certain scientific issues.

During the lecture, Prof. Aida reviewed the important nodes in the development of polymer science and introduced the concept of supramolecular polymerization through the topic of global pollution related to traditional non-biodegradable polymers. He summarized that supramolecular polymers have the properties of recyclable, monomer diversity, self-healing, responsiveness, remoldability and adaptability. Therefore it has wide application prospect and is of great significance to realize a sustainable society.

In the Q&A session, Prof. Aida answered questions about how to develop more methods of supramolecular polymerization and applications in biological systems. His answers not only solved the students’ puzzles but also motivated them to pursue research careers.

Guest profile
Prof. Takuzo Aida, from Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, the University of Tokyo, is a Japan Academy Prize winner and world renowned scholar in the fields of macromolecule and supermolecule. 

Aida is the director of Science & Technology Agency, ERATO Nanospace Project, Science&Technology Agency, EARTO–SORST Project on Electronic Nanospace and RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, associate editor of Journal of Materials Chemistry, reviewing board of Science Magazine（AAAS）and advisory board of Journal of American Chemical Society.

Aida has made great contributions to the field of supermolecular polymerization and published over 400 papers on various journals such as Science, Nature, PNAS，J.Am. Chem. Soc.，Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.，Adv. Mater and so on. His research interests include: (1) controlled macromolecular synthesis with mesoporous inorganic materials, (2) photo and supramolecular chemistry of dendritic macromolecules, (3) mesoscopic materials sciences, and (4) bio-related molecular recognitions and catalyses.

Translator: Chenyun SUN

Reviser: Xiaoke HU