Tohru Fukuyama

is a Japanese organic chemist and Professor of Chemistry at University of Tokyo in Japan. He discovered the Fukuyama coupling in 1998.

Biography Fukuyama studied chemistry at Nagoya University with degrees Bachelor's (1971) and Master's (1973) degrees. As a graduate student, he then worked at Harvard University, where he received his doctorate in 1977 as an academic student of Yoshito Kishi. Until 1978, he continued his research as a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry of Harvard University and then moved to Rice University as an assistant professor, where in 1988 he obtained the rank of a chair holder. In 1995, he accepted a professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo, Japan. Since 2013, Fukuyama has been working as a professor at the Nagoya University - more precisely: Designated Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner Satoshi Ōmura is his old friend.

Achievements Fukuyama reduction Fukuyama indole synthesis Fukuyama coupling

Selected publications Practical Total Synthesis of (±)-Mitomycin C, T. Fukuyama and L.-H. Yang, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 111, 8303–8304 (1989). Facile Reduction of Ethyl Thiol Esters to Aldehydes: Application to a Total Synthesis of (+)-Neothramycin A Methyl Ether, T. Fukuyama, S.-C. Lin, and L.-P. Li, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 112, 7050–7051 (1990). Total Synthesis of (+)-Leinamycin, Y. Kanda and T. Fukuyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115, 8451–8452 (1993). 2- and 4-Nitrobenzenesulfonamides: Exceptionally Versatile Means for Preparation of Secondary Amines and Protection of Amines, T. Fukuyama, C.-K. Jow, and M. Cheung, Tetrahedron Lett., 36, 6373–6374 (1995). “Radical Cyclization of 2-Alkenylthioanilides: A Novel Synthesis of 2,3-Disubstituted Indoles,” H. Tokuyama, T. Yamashita, M. T. Reding, Y. Kaburagi, and T. Fukuyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 121, 3791–3792 (1999). Stereocontrolled Total Synthesis of (+)-Vinblastine, S. Yokoshima, T. Ueda, S. Kobayashi, A. Sato, T. Kuboyama, H. Tokuyama, and T. Fukuyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 124, 2137–2139 (2002). Total Synthesis of (+)-Yatakemycin, K. Okano, H. Tokuyama, and T. Fukuyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 7136–7137 (2006). A Practical Synthesis of (–)-Oseltamivir, N. Satoh, T. Akiba, S. Yokoshima, and T. Fukuyama, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 46, 5734–5736 (2007). A Practical Synthesis of (–)-Kainic Acid, S. Takita, S. Yokoshima, and T. Fukuyama, Org. Lett., 13, 2068–2070 (2011). Total Synthesis of Ecteinascidin 743, F. Kawagishi, T. Toma, T. Inui, S. Yokoshima, and T. Fukuyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 135, 13684–13687 (2013).