Chemists are remarkably proficient at directing the synthesis of small molecules, but fine-tuning the structures of large molecules, such as those found in polymers, is far more taxing. Despite many years of research, the field of macromolecular engineering i.e. the preparation of large molecules with strict control over their size and chemical groups has many mountainous challenges yet to overcome. Nature provides endless examples of precisely engineered macromolecules; proteins, for instance, which contain amino-acid side-chains that are accurately positioned, often in a way that determines the proteins’ roles. Synthetic chemists have tried to recreate nature’s exceptional control over macromolecules, and in so doing they have designed new materials with precisely defined structures, for use in applications ranging from materials to medicine.<br/>The lecture will describe new synthetic paths to design macromolecules showing excellent control over their topology and functionality. These synthetic macromolecules are then exploited to directly form functional materials, or associated to biopolymers such as peptides to form natural / synthetic polymer conjugates. The exploitation of these well-defined macromolecules for the design of functional nanostructured materials via molecular self-assembly and self-organization will be discussed, with examples of applications in the material and biomedical fields. <br/>

Molecular engineering for the design of nanostructured materials

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.