Currently
Assistant professor (February 2021-)
Molecular Assembly Chemistry Group (Director: Prof. Dr. Ichiro HISAKI)
Graduate School of Engineering Science
The University of Osaka, Japan
Degree
Ph.D., Chemistry (2019)
Université de Rouen Normandie, France
Practical aspects on how to deracemize atropisomers by means of crystallization
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Pascal CARDINAEL
M.A., Human and Environmental Studies (2016)
Kyoto University, Japan
Theoretical and experimental study on storing energy gas into organic molecular crystals
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hirohito TSUE
B.Sc., Engineering (2014)
Osaka Pref. Univ. Coll. of Tech., Japan
Study on applying TiO2 photocatalytic reaction to organic syntheses
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Suguru HIGASHIDA
Other experience
Postdoctoral researcher February 2020 – January 2021 (1 year)
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (PI: Prof. Dr. Yves GEERTS)
External PhD student April 2019 (2 month)
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (Supervisor: Dr. David MAILLARD)
Visiting student October 2018 (2 month)
Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Elias VLIEG)
Academic guest October 2017 (1 month)
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Marco Mazzotti)
PhD student April 2016 – March 2020
(LOA April 2017- March 2020, Withdrawn March 2020)
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hirohito TSUE)
Technical training program January 2015 (1 month)
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Seiji TSUZUKI)
Membership
The Chemical Society of Japan, Division of the Organic Crystals (Jan. 2017-)
The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan (Nov. 2021-)
Japanese Association for Crystal Growth (Oct. 2022-)
Crystallographic Society of Japan (Oct. 2022-) Editorial committee member (April 2024-)
The Japan Society of Applied Physics (Jan. 2024-)
Research
Dr. Ryusei Oketani is an Assistant Professor at the University of Osaka, affiliated with the Molecular Assembly Chemistry Group. His research integrates physical chemistry, crystallography, and process engineering, with a particular focus on chiral materials, crystal growth, and symmetry breaking phenomena. His expertise spans organic crystals, high-pressure chemistry, and machine learning applications in crystallization processes.
He obtained his Master’s degree from Kyoto University in March 2016 and earned his PhD in December 2019 from the Université de Rouen Normandie in France. His doctoral research focused on deracemization by crystallization, investigating the phase diagram and structural transitions of chiral compounds from a physical chemistry perspective (Chem. Eur. J. 2019).
In 2020, he joined the Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) as a postdoctoral researcher under Prof. Yves Geerts. From September 2020, he held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND Fellowship. During this period, his research centered on chiral crystallization from melts and chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS)-based enantioselective crystallization (under preparation).
Since his appointment at the University of Osaka, he has conducted pioneering work on crystallization-induced chiral symmetry breaking, including the discovery of a novel chiral structural transition (Chem. Sci. 2025). He has also expanded his research into optics using light with angular momentum, the development of custom-built microspectroscopy systems, and the application of machine learning to chiral analysis. His recent work includes exploring pressure-responsive functions in molecular crystals using diamond anvil cells (under review).
He is an active member of several academic societies, including the Chemical Society of Japan (since 2017), the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan, the Crystallographic Society of Japan, the Japanese Association for Crystal Growth, and the Japan Society of Applied Physics. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Crystallographic Society of Japan (since April 2024).
His contributions to crystal growth and chiral materials research have been widely recognized. He received the Encouragement Award from the Japanese Association for Crystal Growth in 2023, the AsCA Rising Star Award in 2022, and was selected as an Emerging Investigator by Crystal Growth & Design in the same year.
Contact
Division of Chemistry
Graduate School of Engineering Science
The University of Osaka
1-3 Machikaneyama
Toyonaka
Osaka 560-8531
JAPAN