Mitsuo Sawamoto
Mitsuo Sawamoto (澤本 光男), born December 12, 1954, in Kyoto, Japan, is a Japanese chemist who specializes in polymer chemistry. He is Emeritus Professor at Kyoto University and a professor at Chubu University. He is best known for helping develop Atom-Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP), a technique that allows precise control over how polymers grow. In 2017, he shared the Franklin Institute Award in Chemistry with Krzysztof Matyjaszewski for this discovery.
Education and career: Sawamoto earned his BSc, MSc, and PhD from Kyoto University in 1974, 1976, and 1979. He did a postdoc at the University of Akron from 1980 to 1981 and then became a professor there in 1981. About ten years later, he moved to Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Engineering as a professor of polymer chemistry. He led The Society of Polymer Science, Japan from 2008 to 2010 and is a member of the Science Council of Japan. He is also an editor of the Journal of Polymer Science Part A.
Research and impact: Sawamoto discovered the world’s first living cationic polymerization and developed many initiator systems. He also demonstrated the world’s first living free-radical polymerization using a metal complex. In 1995 he and Matyjaszewski described ATRP independently. By 2008 he had published more than 350 original papers and over 30 reviews. His work has made a big impact in polymer chemistry and related fields, and he has been highly cited worldwide.
Awards: Medal with Purple Ribbon (2015), Humboldt Prize (2016), Franklin Institute Award in Chemistry (2017). Fields: polymer chemistry and organometallic chemistry. Doctoral advisor: Toshinobu Higashimura. Institutions associated with his career include Kyoto University, University of Akron, and Chubu University.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:06 (CET).