Akira Sonogashira

Akira Sonogashira was a Japanese chemist renowned for developing the Sonogashira coupling reaction, a key method in organic chemistry. This reaction allows scientists to efficiently join together two different types of molecules—an aryl or vinyl halide and a terminal alkyne—using a palladium catalyst and copper co-catalyst. It’s widely used to create complex organic compounds, including pharmaceuticals and materials with unique properties. Sonogashira's work has significantly advanced synthetic chemistry by enabling more streamlined construction of complex molecules with precision and efficiency.