Tsutomu Katsuki
{{Short description|Japanese organic chemist}}
Tsutomu Katsuki (September 23, 1946 – October 13, 2014) was an organic chemist who primarily focused on asymmetric oxidation reactions utilizing transition metal catalysts.{{Cite journal|last1=Sharpless|first1=K. Barry|last2=Finn|first2=M. G.|last3=Martín|first3=Víctor S.|date=2015-04-13|title=Tsutomu Katsuki (1946–2014)|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201501065|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition|language=en|volume=54|issue=16|pages=4708|doi=10.1002/anie.201501065|pmid=25766459 |issn=1521-3773|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|date=2009-07-13|title=Tsutomu Katsuki|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.200902602|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition|language=en|volume=48|issue=30|pages=5398|doi=10.1002/anie.200902602|issn=1521-3773|url-access=subscription}} {{Infobox scientist
| name = Tsutomu Katsuki
| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|9|23|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|10|13|1946|9|23}}
| nationality = Japanese
| field = Organic chemistry
| work_institution = Kyushu University
| alma_mater = Kyushu University
| doctoral_advisor = Masaru Yamaguchi
| known_for = enantioselective synthesis, Jacobsen epoxidation
| prizes =
| academic_advisors = Karl Barry Sharpless
}}
Education
Katsuki performed doctoral studies in the lab of Masaru Yamaguchi, contributing to the development of the Yamaguchi esterification.{{Cite journal|last1=Inanaga|first1=Junji|last2=Hirata|first2=Kuniko|last3=Saeki|first3=Hiroko|last4=Katsuki|first4=Tsutomu|last5=Yamaguchi|first5=Masaru|date=1979-07-01|title=A Rapid Esterification by Means of Mixed Anhydride and Its Application to Large-ring Lactonization|journal=Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan|volume=52|issue=7|pages=1989–1993|doi=10.1246/bcsj.52.1989|issn=0009-2673|doi-access=free}} As a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Karl Barry Sharpless at Stanford University, he performed the first Sharpless epoxidation reaction.{{Cite journal|last1=Katsuki|first1=Tsutomu|last2=Sharpless|first2=K. Barry|date=August 1980|title=The first practical method for asymmetric epoxidation|url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja00538a077?source=chemport|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=102|issue=18|pages=5974–5976|doi=10.1021/ja00538a077|issn=0002-7863|url-access=subscription}} This reaction would eventually be acknowledged with the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Sharpless).