Category: Publications

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.

A new paper has just come out in Chem. Commun.! This work is a collaboration with the Konkolewicz group. Andrew, Obed (from the Konkolewicz group), Govinda, Viraj, and Kate show that using ortho-phenylenes as crosslinkers in polymer networks gives unusual mechanical properties, namely enhanced energy dissipation, because of the (un)winding of their folding.

We have a new paper out in Macromolecules! This is a collaboration with the Konkolewicz group. In it, Obed and Chamoni investigate various and external effects on the mechanical properties of carbodiimide-induced polymer networks.

We have a new paper out in Chem. Sci.! Viraj shows that by modulating the strength of the aromatic stacking interactions governing folding, we can control the size of the macrocycle produced on self-assembly.

A new paper is out in Angew. Chem.! Lasith and Mosharraf review the transient covalent bond as a tool for designing nonequilibrium systems, including molecular machines and dissipative assemblies.

We have a new paper out in Org. Lett.! Isuru, Frank, Georgia, and Lasith show that diphenic acid derivatives undergo transient geometry changes on treatment with carbodiimide fuels.

A new paper is out in Eur. J. Org. Chem.! Viraj and our collaborators Briana Schrage and Chris Ziegler from the University of Akron study the assembly of hydrocarbon o-phenylene macrocycles assembled using olefin metathesis. We continue to learn more and more about assembling foldamers into more complex structures, and the molecules are particularly pretty.

We have a new paper out in Angew. Chem.! Mosharraf and Josh show that carbodiimide-fueled anhydride formation can be used to assemble macrocycles containing multiple transient bonds. We believe this will have significant implications for generating out-of-equilibrium species of increased structural complexity.

Many thanks to the editors for selecting this as a “Hot Paper”!

Our latest paper is out in J. Org. Chem.! Lasith, Run, and our collaborators from the Sommer Group investigate structure–property effects in the assembly/disassembly of aqueous benzoic anhydrides fueled by carbodiimides.