Cluster Preface: Special Issue Honoring Masahiro Murakami’s Contributions to Science

Ruben Martin (left) was born in Barcelona in 1976. After receiving his PhD at the Universitat de Barcelona with Prof. Antoni Riera, he moved in January 2004 to the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim, as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Alois Fürstner, where he worked on iron cross-coupling reactions. In May 2005, he undertook further postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald where he developed new metal-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond-forming reactions. In September 2008, he initiated his independent career as an Assistant Professor at ICIQ (Tarragona). In July 2013, he was promoted to Associate Professor and subsequently to ICREA Research Professor. His research interests concern the discovery and development of synthetically useful organo­metallic methodologies.

Masahiro Murakami (right) studied chemistry at the University of ­Tokyo under the supervision of Professor Mukaiyama, receiving his doctoral degree in science in 1984. He started his career with a research assistant position to Professor Mukaiyama at the same place. In 1987, he moved to Kyoto University to take a research assistant position to the late Professor Yoshihiko Ito (1937–2006). He took a leave from May in 1991 to March in 1992 to work for Professor Albert Eschenmoser at ETH Zürich as a post-doctoral fellow. He then returned to Kyoto, being promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and Professor in 2002. In March 2022, he retired from Kyoto University. His research interests include the development of synthetically useful, yet mechanistically interesting, organic sections, and the utilization of photo-energy for organic synthesis.