Host: Dr Girish Lakhwani (Self Assembled Nanomaterials)

Supramolecular polymers and materials: a journey

Abstract: In the lecture I will discuss how the design of molecules affects their supramolecular polymerisation behaviour, also when more than one type of monomer is used. In organic media, we devised methods to describe supramolecular homo- and copolymerisations, and we are now capable of tuning the microstructure and chain lengths  of the supramolecular polymers formed. In water this has been more challenging, but we devised microscopy and mass spectroscopy methods to unveil the dynamics and exchange of monomers between supramolecular polymers. Finally, I will show how our detailed understanding of supramolecular polymerisations has contributed to the development of dynamically folded single chain polymeric nanoparticles. These systems are applied as catalyst carriers for inducing reactions in complex media such as cells.

Biography: Anja Palmans obtained a degree in chemical engineering (1992) at the Eindhoven University of Technology(TU/e) and continued with a PhD on the topic of supramolecular chemistry (1997) in the group of Prof. E.W. Meijer. After a Postdoc in the group of Prof. P. Smith at the ETH Zürich (Switzerland) and working at DSM Research (The Netherlands), she became assistant professor at the TU/e in Eindhoven in 2005 and associate professor in 2010. Since March 2019 she is full professor in Supramolecular Chemistry and Catalysis at the TU/e. Her research interest include understanding controlled folding of macromolecules with pendant recognition motifs into well-defined, compartmentalized particles, with an aim to access enzyme mimics for catalysis in complex media and cascade reactions.