Publications

This program was focused on the development of a fluorogenic chemosensor family that could tuned for reaction with electrophilic (e.g. chemical species, toxins) and nucleophilic (e.g. proteins and other biological molecules) species. Our chemosensor approach utilized the fluorescent properties of well-known berberine-type alkaloids. In situ chemosensor reaction with a target species transformed two out-of-plane, weakly conjugated, short-wavelength chromophores into one rigid, planar, conjugated, chromophore with strong long wavelength fluorescence (530-560 nm,) and large Stokes shift (100-180 nm). The chemosensor was activated with an isourea group which allowed for reaction with carboxylic acid moieties found in amino acids.

Abstract not provided.

Current methodologies for the production of meso- and nanoporous materials include the use of a surfactant to produce a self-assembled template around which the material is formed. However, post-production surfactant removal often requires centrifugation, calcination, and/or solvent washing which can damage the initially formed material architecture(s). Surfactants that can be disassembled into easily removable fragments following material preparation would minimize processing damage to the material structure, facilitating formation of templated hybrid architectures. Herein, we describe the design and synthesis of novel cationic and anionic surfactants with regularly spaced unsaturation in their hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails and the first application of ring closing metathesis depolymerization to surfactant degradation resulting in the mild, facile decomposition of these new compounds to produce relatively volatile nonsurface active remnants.

The synthesis of a photoswitchable polymer by grafting an azobenzene dye to methacrylate followed by polymerization is presented. The azobenzene dye undergoes a trans-cis photoisomerization that causes a persistent change in the refractive index of cast polymer films. This novel polymer was incorporated into superlattices prepared by spin casting and the optical activity of the polymer was maintained. A modified coextruder that allows the rapid production of soft matter superlattices was designed and fabricated.