Tailored Polymer Materials for Catalysis, Encapsulation and Transport

We are a polymer group and we love making interesting materials. While everything we make is meant to have a specific function, we are interested in devising new macromolecules and new routes to useful architectures.

De novo design of functional proteins is still out of reach of modern chemistry, to a significant extent due to the complexity of the problem of protein folding. However, the structures of enzymes provide useful boundary conditions for the rational design of enzyme mimics. We are interested in micellar aggregates and macromolecular architectures that approximate the useful features of natural biopolymers. Aiming to create materials for enzyme-like catalysis, we develop general approaches for ready accessibility of complex micellar assemblies and macromolecular architectures and for rapid generation of structural diversity using reliable “click” reactions.