Yasuhiko Asahina

Yasuhiko Asahina (朝比奈泰彦 Asahina Yasuhiko; April 16, 1881 – June 30, 1975) was a Japanese chemist and lichenologist.

Asahina was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 and 1952, but did not win the award.

Early life During his childhood, Asahina developed an interest in plants. In 1902, he enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at Tokyo Imperial University, where he graduated in 1905. Asahina stayed at the university to research the chemical principles of Chinese traditional medicine under Junichiro Shimoyama. His first paper, on styracitol isolation from Styrax obassia, was published in 1907. In 1909, Asahina traveled to Zürich to study phytochemistry under Richard Willstätter. He continued his research on chlorophyll until 1912 when he moved to Berlin. He spent three months in Germany working in Professor Emil Fischer's laboratory on a styracitol experiment.

Career Upon his return to Tokyo, Asahina accepted an associate professor position at Tokyo Imperial University. For the next decade, Asahina was devoted to researching traditional and folk medicines of China and Japan. In 1925, he shifted his focus to lichens. Asahina realized that some morphologically identical lichens contained different chemical compounds. Asahina developed a method of thalline color reaction and the microcrystal test of lichen metabolites. He utilized this chemical identification for taxonomic differentiation of these lichens. Asahina continued his research at his private laboratory until he died in 1975.

Awards Asahina was awarded the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy in 1923 for his contribution to research on Chinese drug principles.

Legacy Syoziro Asahina, notable entomologist, was Asahina's son. The lichen genus Asahinea was named in honour of Yasuhiko Asahina.