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Ken Itami

@kenitami.bsky.social
411 followers 65 following 55 posts

A chemist believing the power of molecules. Synthetic chemistry, molecular nanocarbon science, catalysis, and chemical biology. Be unique, go crazy! kenichiro.itami@riken.jp itami-lab.com/?lang=en

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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Welcome party!! We all are super excited to have Ingita, Geoffrey, Weiwen, and Joshua!! Let’s explore the unknown and crazy chemistry!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Diversity-oriented two-step APEX opens new nanographene space! Starting from unfunctionalized PAHs, we can rapidly access structurally diverse and complex nanographenes including a negatively curved 5–6–7-ring framework. Congrats Honami and the team!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
“The advent of molecular nanocarbon biology,” is now out in @chemicalscience.rsc.org! We highlight how precisely synthesized carbon frameworks are opening new opportunities in imaging, delivery, therapeutics, and biocatalysis. Congrats Kazuma and Ayaka! doi.org/10.1039/D6SC...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
PAHs are no longer static molecular skeletons. We can grow, diversify, and even edit them. Our Review is now out in @ACSChemRev! From APEX to skeletal/molecular editing, all through cycloaddition-based retrosynthetic logic. Congrats Sajan and the team! doi.org/10.1021/acs....
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Congratulations to Ayaka and everyone! A wonderful @JST_ASPIRE collaboration with Bart Jan Ravoo and Christos Gatsogiannis at the University of Münster. I was so excited by this cryo-EM structure that I couldn’t sleep! Video by Issey Takahashi (@RIKEN). More to come—stay tuned!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Cryo-EM resolves the fibers at 1.7 Å, revealing tightly packed protofilaments, ordered water channels, and a unidirectional dipole along the fiber. Together, aromatic stacking, polar interactions, and water organization generate emergent electrostatics and mechanical resilience.
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Our paper, “Atomic-precision π-driven peptide hydrogel nanofibers with ordered water channels,” is now out in @NatureComms! A π-extended aromatic unit turns a terminally uncapped dipeptide into a highly ordered, self-healing supramolecular hydrogel. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Welcoming the new academic year under the cherry blossoms 🌸 The beautiful weather and sakura make it feel like a year of exciting research and big breakthroughs ahead.
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Our CoMBiS kickoff symposium (supported by JST ASPIRE) was huge success!! Thank you so much everyone for the organization and sharing exciting science!!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Excited for the kickoff symposium of the Itami ASPIRE project (CoMBiS) this week at RIKEN! Researchers from Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Korea, and Japan will come together to spark new international collaborations in carbon-based material–biology interface science (CoMBiS)!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Super fun lab trip at Hakone!! Lots of foods, drinks, activity, and laugh, making our bonds stronger!! We all greatly appreciate Andoh-kun and Ayaka for amazing organization!! You are GOAT!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Big news! 🎉 Our very own Hideya Kono has been awarded the Inoue Research Award for Young Scientists, recognizing outstanding researchers under 37. Massive congrats, Hideya!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Super excited to hear significant research progress at our year-end presentation! Of course we fully enjoyed the year-end party afterwards!! Thank you all for our great 2025 and let’s make our 2026 even greater!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Mini ASPiRE happening at Honolulu with @cathleencrudden.bsky.social
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
German Christmas Night in Itami Lab!! Thank you all!! Sooo fun!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Great pizza party!!! Otsukare party for the Itami Lab Reunion Symposium which was huge success! Many thanks all!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Itami Lab Reunion Symposium, IKOCS, was huge success!!! 140 people gathered in RIKEN! Great lectures, discussion, and party!!! So many thanks for coming and also to current members for dedicated organization! GOAT!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
We welcome Lucas (6 month master course study) and Ayaka (staff scientist) in Itami Lab!! So nice to have you two! Let’s explore crazy chemistry!!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
It was huge fun!! Many thanks Murakami Lab!!! See you next at RIKEN!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Kei Murakami (previous staff) and Yota Sakakibara (previous student) in front of beautiful campus. Super great host!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Yesterday I fully enjoyed the really exciting discussion and mixing with Murakami Lab, Kwansei Gakuin University. Door to door it took me 6 hours to come but worth it! Today and tomorrow, I will do extensive short course and lecture!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Tomoki’s work making non-emissive [6]CPP fluorescent by simple multiple methyl substitution is now out @chemicalscience.rsc.org ! We hope this simple, yet pronounced ‘methyl effect’ facilitates the design and application of CPP-based materials in various fields! 
pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Happy birthday Prof. Noyori and Dorae-mon!

Don’t miss Noyori’s autobiography “Research should be fresh, simple, and clear”, recently released !

l-i-c.org/ryoji-noyori...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
We very much enjoyed the lecture by Bruce Yu from Academia Sinica, Taiwan! Very insightful and exciting!! Thanks Bruce!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
So great to have two very active players in our lab! Welcome Asim and Ando-kun to Itami Lab!! It was very nice welcome party last night with LOTS of Indian curry!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
A great collaborative paper with Jean Bouffard Lab is out in JACS! From your arenes and molecular nanocarbons, you can make C-H amination products! My favorite examples are double amination of CPP and coronene! Congrats Rikuo, Sajan, and the team! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
A simple, Mg-mediated, 12-fold dearomative esterification of carbon nanobelt, dedicated to Fraser Stoddart in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social. Huge congrats to Tsubasa, Takehisa & the team! Nice artwork created by Issey Takahashi!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
The first all-azine nanoring is now out in @NatureComms. The very strong collaborative team of Nagoya-Munster-RIKEN made this possible, particularly Till Drennhaus. Many thanks and congrats to all involved! Issey Takahashi made another eye-catching artwork shown here.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Our in-insect nanocarbon synthesis is now out in @ScienceMagazine. Enjoy our crazy campaign feeding molecules to insects densely packed with diverse enzymes and let them produce new functional compounds! Many thanks and huge congrats to all involved!! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Yesterday we had Prof. Gong Chen from Nankai Univ! We all were very excited to see his amazingly simple, robust, and smart tools for peptide and protein modifications! We will start using his “magic” solvents/additives in RIKEN’s chemistry! Many thanks Gong!!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
It was so exciting to host Harry Anderson from Oxford!! All RIKEN scientists were blown away with the beauty and properties of his porphyrin-based molecular wires and nanorings! Thanks a million Harry for inspiring lecture and discussion!
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Ken Itami @kenitami.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Our thiophene belt paper is now out in @naturecomms.bsky.social ! This amazing connecting-the-dot molecules (structurally beautiful aromatic belt + function-rich thiophene) were designed and synthesized by our very own Hiroki Shudo! Congrats all!  (1/4) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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