News

We have a new paper out in Macromol. Rapid Commun.! In this work, a collaboration with the Konkolewicz group, Kate and Viraj, with help from Emma Gordon from Miami’s microscopy facility, report on the properties of star polymers with ortho-phenylene cores. The o-phenylenes retain their well-folded (helical) state when functionalized with many different acrylate polymers.

We have a new paper out in J. Am. Chem. Soc.! In this work, Chamoni, Corvo, and co-workers explore polymer network hydrogels that can be temporarily mechanically reinforced on treatment with a carbodiimide through the formation of anhydride cross-links. Because these materials undergo gel–gel transitions, they exhibit new and unusual behavior. For example, two pieces can be temporarily and repeatedly adhered, with the time of adhesion dependent on the amount of carbodiimide used. Films can also be reversibly patterned with different mechanical properties. This work is part of our long-running collaboration with the Konkolewicz group.

We have another new paper out in J. Org. Chem.! In this work, Govinda and Will study the effect of different amides installed at the ends of ortho-phenylene oligomers on the conformation. The behavior can be quite complicated, with the amides affecting multiple degrees of freedom along the oligomers. This can be resolved using our recently developed ¹⁹F labeling strategy.

We have a new paper out in J. Org. Chem.! Suma, Juliana, and Gopi show that it is possible to control the twist sense of o-phenylenes by including chiral phthalimides in the middle of the oligomer. Importantly, it is necessary to include substituents farther along the helix to interact with the chiral groups; otherwise, chiral induction is very poor.

We have a new paper out in ChemSystemsChem! Mosharraf, Isuru, and Renu report on the transient formation of crown-ether-based cages, uncovering some interesting templation effects and evidence of cation binding.