Our world is now in need of a new guiding philosophy.  As the result of modern development, the earth is overflowing with human beings and small size of the globe has put concrete limits on every form of human activity. Under the circumstances of the limited availability of natural resources, energy, and space, there is a need to establish a new scientific and technological system and social system backed by the philosophy and ethics of coexistence of human beings with both each other and with nature.

This COE project aims at creating human-friendly materials, which will contribute to the development of mankind and establishing an affluent society, by placing its research base in chemistry and applying it to the field of materials. Modern chemistry has evolved dramatically so as to be able to handle many complicated phenomena and to create molecules, an assembly of molecules and other materials with various functions and structures. We want to create human-friendly materials by concentrating the power and wisdom of chemistry and material science and thereby contribute to the development of mankind, the realization of affluent human life, and improvement of the global environment. Our aim is not to create economic values. The role of university lies in the creation and transmission of knowledge, which is of great value even without direct economic contributions.

In 21st century, there are strong demands to develop material science based on a human viewpoint, with an emphasis not only on function, but on function combined with  social value.  This COE project is evolving around the new research field of  “human material” based on the development of modern chemistry, and it promotes research in the following three fields: 1) Nano-structured molecules and the assembly of molecules for the realization of a safe, secure, intellectual and highly information-oriented society. 2) Bio-materials and bio-molecules to realize an affluent society with highly developed medical treatments.  3) Eco-materials with a minimized environmental load.

This COE project has already achieved the following results:

1. Development of UTChem, a program package for ab initio quantum chemistry calculations for large-scale molecular systems

2. Self-assembly and functionalization of 4nm spherical hollow complexes composed of 36 compoments.

3. Design and preparation of a cyano-bridged metal assembly exhibiting an external field response

4. Nano-crystalline cBN thin film devices

5. Experimental evidence of HfO2 on Ge substrate with no interface layer

6. HREM in-situ observation of fracture phenomena and development of nano interface characterization

7.  Fabrication of Fullerene-containing supramolecular peapods

8. Synthesis of functionalized Fullerenes and their application as devices

9.  Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of photosynthesis

10. Development of novel biointerfaces with artificial cell membrane structure and their application to biomedical devices

11.  Immobilization of non-adhesive cells and DNA on a substrate modified with lipid-PEG conjugate, and fabrication of gene-transfected cell microarray

12.  Functional gene discovery based on RNA technology

13.  Development of an eco-materials module and green purchasing method using an eco-efficiency evaluation.

14.  Detailed chemical kinetics in silicon film growth processes

15.  Development of a biomass ethanol fermentation process controlled by environment-sensitive gating membrane