Research

Dendronized Polymers

Dendronized polymers are cylindrical macromolecules with a thickness of several nanometers that are composed of a linear polymeric backbone and highly branched, dendritic side chains. Potential applications of dendronized polymers are, for example, in the field of DNA compaction, for surface patterning, as catalyst support, as functional units for the bottom-up approach to the Nanosciences, to study thickening effects, and create responsive materials.

Suzuki Polycondensation (SPC)

This polycondensation method allows for the first time to couple aromatic units directly together, thus, furnishing polyarylenes. It has meanwhile been developed into an internationally used tool for the precision synthesis of active components for electro-optical devices (e.g. OLEDs). SPC has reached industrial relevance for which its successful performance in microreactors was an important prerequisite.

Two Dimensional (2D) Polymers

This project aims at developing concepts and synthetic procedures that would allow the creation of novel macromolecules characterized by a one monomer unit thick (better: thin), covalently and periodically connected structure. Both interfacial and topochemical attempts are systematically explored using carefully designed typically cyclic monomers with three to six polymerizable units. 2D polymers are foreseen to have enormous impact on the materials sciences.

Responsive Polymers

This project develops polymers which respond to an external stimulus such as temperature or chemical modification with a conformational change. This change can, e.g., lead to a complete chain collapse which in turn results in aggregate formation and a suddenly occurring turbidity. Such effects can be of interest for sensing applications.

Belt-shaped macrocycles and their polymerization into two-dimensional networks

The aim of the work is to prepare designed belt-shaped macrocycles by applying Diels-Alder reactions in order to obtain an unsaturated structure that may be transformed into a two-dimensional network through an intermolecular coupling of the individual macrocycles (see Figure below).

Belt-shaped, fully conjugated molecules (in red any alkyl residue to make the molecule soluble).