Atsuhiro Osuka

is a research professor of organic chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University (Japan). He is recognized in the fields of porphyrinoid chemistry for his works in extended π-electron systems and its tunable aromatic behaviors.

Osuka has published research concerning extremely long porphyrin arrays, extensively π-conjugated porphyrin tapes, large porphyrin wheels, an antiaromatic porphyrin sheet, porphyrin belts, and porphyrin barrels. He has explored the properties of Meso-aryl expanded porphyrins for its transannular reactions and splitting reactions. He has used meso-aryl expanded porphyrins as a scaffold to study twisted Möbius aromatic and antiaromatic systems.

Osuka introduced a new class of real congeners of contracted porphyrins, which he named subporphyrins.

Early life Osuka was born on 16 October 1954 in Gamagōri, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

On the occasion of his 65th birthday and his retirement, in 2020, from Kyoto University, a special issue of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines was dedicated to honouring Osuka and his achievements. As a mark of respect for his work in this field, T. K. Chandrashekar and J. Sessler were among the fifty-five scholar-contributors who submitted their research papers to be published in his honour.

Osuka's influence in the field of porphyrin chemistry, due to his scientific discoveries, were mentioned in the foreword to the issue. Of note were the preparation of various extended porphyrins as Huckel-Möbius (anti) aromaticity switching models, structural rearrangements and "creation of a vast array" of new π conjugated structures of "tremendous aesthetic appeal".

Awards and recognition 1988 Chemical Society of Japan Young Chemists award 2020 Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines Special issue of the journal, dedicated to Osuka.

Publications