Folding of Synthetic Supramolecular Blockcopolymers

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With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division supports Professor Marcus Weck at New York University to develop the science of architecturally well-defined 3D supramolecular polymers. It has been postulated that the next generation of complex, diverse, and highly functionalized polymers for electro-optical, optical, biological, energy-related, biomedical, and computer-based applications will be based on self-assembled three-dimensional architectures. Taking advantage of non-covalent chemistries, Prof. Weck's research group develops new strategies for the formation of polymer-based architectures for such applications. This project pairs cutting edge research with the training of undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, Prof. Weck and his students actively participate in educational development programs to enhance the understanding and teaching of polymer science to K-12 school children. Examples include hosting bimonthly third and fourth grade inner city school children as well as pre-school children in the PIs laboratory and introducing them to the excitement of polymer science through a series of very basic demonstrations. The research design is based on the fabrication of supramolecular block copolymers using a plug-and-play strategy with a library of well-defined telechelic polymer building blocks wherein both directional and non-directional interactions influence final folded structures. Specifically, Prof. Weck's group develops synthetic methodology for the fabrication of covalent and noncovalent triblock copolymers that contain helical, sheet-like, and rod-coil like segments and studies the folding behavior of these copolymers using directional and non-directional interactions. His group performs systematic structure-property relationship studies to elucidate the effect of specific noncovalent interactions on the self-assembly behavior of the polymeric building blocks. This use of a 'plug-and-play' strategy allows for the realization of tertiary and quaternary polymeric structures by design.