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Koichi Tanaka

 
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Koichi Tanaka (born August 3, 1959) is a Japanese scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Pri...
 in 2002 for developing a novel method for mass spectrometric
Mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique for the determination of the elemental composition of a sample or molecule. It is also used for elucidating the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and other chemical compounds....
 analyses of biological macromolecules.

Tanaka was born and raised in Toyama, Japan
Toyama, Toyama

is the capital cities of Japan of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan on the island of Honshu, about 200 km north of the city of Nagoya and 300 km northwest of Tokyo....
. In 1983, he graduated from Tohoku University
Tohoku University

, abbreviated to , located in the city of Sendai, Miyagi, Miyagi Prefecture in the Tohoku Region, Japan, is one of Japan's most prestigious national universities....
 with a bachelor's degree in engineering. As of 2008, he is the only person without a post-bachelor's degree to have won a Nobel Prize in a scientific field.






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Koichi Tanaka (born August 3, 1959) is a Japanese scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Pri...
 in 2002 for developing a novel method for mass spectrometric
Mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique for the determination of the elemental composition of a sample or molecule. It is also used for elucidating the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and other chemical compounds....
 analyses of biological macromolecules.

Tanaka was born and raised in Toyama, Japan
Toyama, Toyama

is the capital cities of Japan of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan on the island of Honshu, about 200 km north of the city of Nagoya and 300 km northwest of Tokyo....
. In 1983, he graduated from Tohoku University
Tohoku University

, abbreviated to , located in the city of Sendai, Miyagi, Miyagi Prefecture in the Tohoku Region, Japan, is one of Japan's most prestigious national universities....
 with a bachelor's degree in engineering. As of 2008, he is the only person without a post-bachelor's degree to have won a Nobel Prize in a scientific field. After graduation, he joined Shimadzu Corporation, where he engaged in the development of mass spectrometers.

For mass spectrometry analyses of a macromolecule, such as a protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
, the analyte must be ionized and vaporized by laser
Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. The term laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation....
 irradiation. The problem is that the direct irradiation of an intense laser pulse on a macromolecule causes cleavage of the analyte into tiny fragments and the loss of its structure. In February 1985, Tanaka found that by using a mixture of ultra fine metal powder in glycerol
Glycerol

Glycerol is a chemical compound also commonly called glycerin or glycerine. It is a colorless, odorless, Viscosity liquid that is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations....
 as a matrix, an analyte can be ionized without losing its structure. His work was filed as a patent application in 1985, and after the patent application was made public reported at the Annual Conference of the Mass Spectrometry Society of Japan held in Kyoto, Japan, in May 1987 and became known as soft laser desorption
Soft laser desorption

Soft laser desorption is laser desorption of large molecules that results in ionization without fragmentation. "Soft" in the context of ion formation means forming ions without breaking chemical bonds....
 (SLD).

However, there was some criticism about his winning the prize, saying that contribution by two German scientists, Franz Hillenkamp and Michael Karas
Michael Karas

Michael Karas is a German physical chemistry scientist and Professor, known for his researches on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization , a technique in mass spectrometry....
 was also big enough not to be dismissed, and therefore they should also be included as prize winners. This is because they first reported in 1985 a method, with higher sensitivity using a small organic compound
Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
 as a matrix, that they named Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization is a soft ionization technique used in mass spectrometry, allowing the analysis of biomolecules and large organic chemistry molecules , which tend to be fragile and fragment when ionized by more conventional ionization methods....
 (MALDI). Also Tanaka's SLD is not used currently for biomolecules analysis, meanwhile MALDI is widely used in mass spectrometry research laboratories. But while MALDI was developed prior to SLD, it was not used to ionize protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
s until after Tanaka's report.

External links

  • ()
  • Journal of Chemical Education web site.