Akabori Shirō

Akabori Shirō

Akabori Shirō ( Japanese 赤 堀 四郎 ; born October 20, 1900 in Chihama , Ogasa County (now Kakegawa ), Shizuoka Prefecture ; † November 3, 1992 ), also Akahori Shirō , was a Japanese chemist and university professor.

Life

After graduating from primary school, he began training as a pharmacist at the Chiba Medical School (now Chiba University ) in 1918 . After graduating in 1921, he joined the pharmaceutical company Momotani Juntenkan. The company hired him as an assistant to chemist Nishizawa Yūshichi of the Imperial University of Tokyo , where he heard the outline of chemistry at Ikeda Kikunae . In the summer of the same year he followed Nishizawa for a short stay in the Mecca of Japanese organic chemistry under Majima Rikō at the Imperial University of Tōhoku , where he was able to begin studying this research area thanks to a scholarship from the Ajinomoto company , which he completed in 1925. From 1930 he held lectures under Majima and obtained his doctorate in 1931.

From 1932 to 1935 he went to Germany and the USA for further studies. After his return, Akabori became assistant professor at Osaka University , full professor in 1939, dean of the natural sciences faculty in 1947, dean of the new faculty for liberal arts in 1949 and, from 1953, dean of the natural sciences faculty as well as professor at the newly founded "Institute for Applied Microbiology" ( 応 用 微生物 研究所 , "Ōyō Biseibutsu Kenkyūjo", today: "Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology", English "Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences") of the University of Tokyo. From 1958 he was director of the "Protein Institute" ( 蛋白質 研究所 , "Tanpakushitsu Kenkyūjo") at Osaka University. In 1960 Akabori became rector of the university for two terms; In 1966 he retired. Akabori had been a member of the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences since 1966 .

In 1967 he followed a call to Tokyo and became president of the Institute for Physical and Chemical Research .

plant

The chemistry of the amino acids and proteins as well as the biochemistry of the oxidation processes were the main research areas of Akabori. In 1931 he developed a method for the reduction of α-amino acids to α-amino aldehydes ( Akabori reduction ) and in 1943 a synthesis of amino alcohols ( Akabori synthesis ). In 1952 he reported on a method for determining C -terminal amino acids in proteins by reaction with hydrazine . All amino acids (except the C -terminal) are converted into hydrazides .

Awards

In 1955 Akabori received the Japanese Academy of Sciences Prize . In 1965 he was honored as a person with special cultural merits and in the same year with the imperial cultural order . A year later he became an honorary citizen of his hometown. In 1975 Akabori received the Order of the Holy Treasure, 1st class.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ His hometown Kakegawa explicitly states ihrer か ほ り し ろ う Aka h ori Shirō as a reading on its hometown Kakegawa , while western works , the Japanese dictionary of names Nihon Jinmei Daijiten , the Japanese dictionary Daijisen (cf. digitized versions of both ) Aka b use ori .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} 赤 堀 四郎 （あ か ほ り し ろ う） . Kakegawa, October 20, 2011, accessed February 18, 2013 (Japanese). 
3. ↑ JT Edsall: Shiro Akabori-October 20, 1900-November 3, 1992 . In: Tanpakushitsu Kakusan Koso . Vol. 40, No. 3 , 1995, p. 217-223 , PMID 7724799 .
4. ↑ biographical data, publications and Academic pedigree of Shiro Akabori at academictree.org, accessed on January 1, 2018th
5. ^ German Academy of Natural Scientists (Ed.): German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina zu Halle / Saale: Structure and membership . Union-Druck, 1977, p. 39 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
6. ↑ Hans-Dieter Jakubke, Hans Jeschkeit: amino acids, peptides, proteins , Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, pp. 413-414, 1982, ISBN 3-527-25892-2 .
7. ↑ 赤 堀 四郎 第 7 代 総 長 の 著書 ・ 『ア ミ ノ 酸 ・ 蛋白質』 （谷 久 也 共 著） . University Library of the University of Osaka , accessed 28 December 2011 (Japanese). 

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Akabori Shirō . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 25.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Akabori is the family name, Shirō the first name.