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Special Issue in honor of Professor Takeshi Endo

2019; Wiley; Volume: 57; Issue: 24 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/pola.29560

1099-0518

Toshikazu Takata, Ikuyoshi Tomita, Yusuf Yağcı, Tsutomu Yokozawa,

Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis

It is our great pleasure to realize this special issue celebrating the 80th birthday of Professor Takeshi Endo, who has just started his new full professor position at Kyushu Institute of Technology following successive positions at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yamagata University, and Kindai University. Included in this special issue are 32 papers by some of the distinguished international polymer scientists who have been inspired by Professor Endo. Over his long and successful career, there is no doubt that Professor Endo has completed ground-breaking studies in the area of polymer synthesis. It is also interesting to note that the most major journal for his publications is this journal, J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem., in which he has published over 430 articles. Professor Endo was born in 1939, raised in Kagoshima, received his doctorate degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1969, and joined the Tokyo Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He later joined Prof. William J. Bailey's group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maryland, USA, as a Postdoctoral Fellow (1978–1979). After his experience as an associate professor, Professor Endo was promoted to full professor in 1986. Until his retirement from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2000, Professor Endo also served as a Director of Chemical Resources Laboratories for 9 years. In 2000, Professor Endo moved to Yamagata University as a full professor and simultaneously served as a full professor at Kindai University. Until his second retirement (from Yamagata University), Professor Endo also served as a Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (2001–2004) and a Vice President of Yamagata University (2004–2005). In 2005, he moved fully to the Molecular Engineering Institute at Kindai University. Until his third retirement from Kindai University in 2019, Professor Endo also served as a Director of the Molecular Engineering Institute and a Vice President of Kindai University. In 2019, he has moved once again and opened a new laboratory at Kyushu Institute of Technology where he has reinitiated challenging and innovative research as a full professor. Professor Endo's numerous achievements in polymer chemistry are concerned with the creation of polymer synthetic methods, macromolecular architectures, and unique functional materials that are always based on his firm knowledge of organic chemistry. Of special note are Professor Endo's pioneering works related to the ring-opening polymerizations of bicyclic and spirocyclic monomers and cyclic carbonates which opened a new field of research, the polymerization accompanying the volume expansion; this conceptual work has sparked growing interest and has been industrialized. The latent catalysts for ionic polymerizations, which exhibit no activity under ambient conditions but excellent activity under external stimuli such as heat and light, have been developed on the basis of the rational molecular design, and are highly important for the precision control of the curing process of epoxy resin. Professor Endo's outstanding achievements also cover the areas of chemical recycling processes based on equilibrium polymerizations, fixation of carbon dioxide into polymeric materials, precision ring-opening polymerization of functional monomers including benzoxazine, functional materials derived from α-amino acids where he also developed his own phosgene-free synthetic method of NCA, and many others. Through these polymer synthesis studies, he has contributed significantly to both the scientific aspects of polymer chemistry and the industrial applications. Professor Endo has also published over 1250 original scientific papers, 230 review articles, 230 books, and 480 patents. His world-class status is also recognized by the numerous plenary, keynote, and invited lectures he has given. More importantly, through these challenging research works, Professor Endo has mentored many young researchers, including 121 people who obtained their doctorate degree under his supervision and more than 60 people who went on to obtain positions in academia. For these outstanding achievements in polymer chemistry, Professor Endo has received many awards, including: the Award of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (1984); the Academic Award of the Chemical Society of Japan (1988); the Academic Award of the Society of Network Polymer, Japan (1995); the Mukai Award of the Tokyo Ohka Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Technology (1998); the Technology Award of the Chemical Society of Japan (2000); the Best Paper Awards of the Adhesion Society of Japan (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002); the Award of the Adhesion Society of Japan (2002); an SPSJ Award for Outstanding Achievement in Polymer Science and Technology (2007); and a Research Achievement Award of Research Association for Feedstock Recycling of Plastics Japan (2014). With his excellent leadership, Professor Endo was elected and made important contributions as a President of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2002–2004), an Editor-in-chief of J. Adhesion Soc. Jpn (1997–2000), and an Editor-in-chief of J. Network Polym. Jpn (1993-present). He also organized many international symposia such as the 11th International Conference on Advanced Polymers via Macromolecular Engineering (APME 2015) in Yokohama. As mentioned above, Professor Endo is a pioneering individual who has created and contributed to the growth of many important research fields in polymer chemistry as well as chemical industries. His activity, leadership, and personality have also contributed significantly to the development of the polymer community and young scientists not only in Japan but also all over the world. Professor Endo often enthusiastically plays sports and enjoys discussing professional sports such as Judo wrestling, tennis, and baseball games. He also loves to sing at Karaoke parties. These traits, as well as many other engaging features of Professor Endo's personality, attract people worldwide to work, collaborate, and study with him. We sincerely thank all the authors for their great contributions to celebrate Professor Endo's 80th birthday and hope that he continues to contribute to polymer science for many years to come. Endo-sensei, Omedetou Gozaimasu!