Polymer Chemistry Blog

It is with great pleasure that we announce Brett Fors (Cornell University) as the recipient of the 2021 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its seventh year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymers field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Science Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Brett P. Fors was born in Montana and carried out his undergraduate studies in chemistry at Montana State University (2006). He went on to do his Ph.D. (2011) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Professor Stephen L. Buchwald. After his doctoral studies he became an Elings Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara working with Professor Craig J. Hawker.  In of 2014 he joined the faculty at Cornell University and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. His group’s research focuses on the development and application of new synthetic methods for polymer science. He and his group can be found on Twitter @brett_fors and @forsgroup.

Polymer Chemistry Editor-in-Chief, Christopher Barner-Kowollik, says that Prof. Fors is a leader in the development of advanced (photochemical) synthetic methods, fusing elegant new concepts of organic chemistry with advanced polymer materials design. His research is seminal and inspiring to our community. I am delighted that the 2021 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship is awarded to Brett, a true ambassador of polymer science excellence.

Read Brett’s latest article in Polymer Chemistry “Achieving molecular weight distribution shape control and broad dispersities using RAFT polymerizations” and all of his other publications in Polymer Chemistry for FREE until 1 August. These and articles from our previous lectureship winners can be found in our lectureship winners collection.

How has your research evolved from your first article to the most recent article?

Our research program has evolved to a point that I would not have imagined when our group was getting started–this is a result of having very talented co-workers and collaborators that have taken our research in directions that I could not have predicted.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

Results that change our understanding of a system are especially exciting to me. The most exciting moments of my career have been seeing my students develop and succeed as scientists.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

In my opinion the most important questions being asked in a field are not obvious.  I strongly believe that continuing to encourage high quality basic research in the area of polymer chemistry is what is important.  However, if I was to pick one area that I believe will have an impact on society it would be developing sustainable polymer systems.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

Polymer Chemistry is an excellent platform to publish high quality studies and is one of my favorite journals to read and keep up with the current field of polymer science.

Which of your Polymer Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

I cannot choose – I am very proud of all of the work and creativity that my co-workers put into all of our Polymer Chemistry publications.

In which upcoming conference or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

With Covid I am currently unsure as conferences are continually being moved but I will definitely be at Pacifichem.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

My one piece of advice is to work in an area that you are passionate about and don’t forget to enjoy the process of research.

How do you spend your spare time?

I spend my free time with my wife and two kids!

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2021 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Brett on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Now is your chance to put them forward for the accolade they deserve!

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2021 Lectureship award. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at an international conference in 2021, where they will also be presented with the award. The Polymer Chemistry Editorial Office will provide £1000 financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs.

The recipient will also be asked to contribute a research article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published. The article would be subject to the normal peer review standards of the journal.

Previous winners

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, having completed PhD and postdoctoral studies
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who work in systems where their time period to independence may vary, or who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave or who followed an alternative study path)

Although the Polymer Chemistry Lectureship doesn’t explicitly reward support of or contributions to the journal, candidates with a history of publishing or reviewing for the journal would be more likely to be considered favourably.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a shortlisting panel, made up of members of the Polymer Chemistry Advisory Board and a previous lectureship winner.
• The shortlisting panel will consider the nomination form and letter of recommendation, as well as the three recent research articles highlighted in the nomination form for consideration.
• Shortlisted candidates will be further assessed by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, and a winner will be selected based on an anonymous poll.
• Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and nomination form, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the polymer community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Polymer Chemistry.

Nominations

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• A brief letter of recommendation (1 page maximum length)
• A complete nomination form (includes list of the candidate’s relevant publications or recent work, 3 research articles to be considered during the shortlisting process, candidate’s scientific CV, and full contact details)

Please note:

• Nominations from students and self-nomination is not permitted.
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship.
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.
• Candidates outside of the stated eligibility criteria may still be considered.

Nominations deadline: 10th January 2021

Download nomination form here

It is with great pleasure that we announce Prof Rachel O’Reilly (University of Birmingham) as the recipient of the 2020 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship.

This award, now in its sixth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer chemistry field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Read on to find out more about Rachel…

Rachel O’Reilly holds a Chair in Chemistry within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham. From 1^st August 2018 she became the Head of the School of Chemistry. She graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1998 with a BA in Natural Sciences, and in 1999 with an MSc in Chemistry and completed her PhD in 2003 from Imperial College London. She has held a number of prestigious fellowships from the ESPRC, Royal Society and Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

She has published over 175 research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews and book chapters in the fields of polymer synthesis, self-assembly, catalysis and DNA nanotechnology. She has given over 170 invited lectures and was recognised as one of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 175 faces of Chemistry. She has received major grants and research support from the ERC, BP and EPSRC. She leads a large interdisciplinary team working at the interface of chemistry, materials and biology. Since 2006 she has graduated close to 25 PhD students and mentored over 20 postdoctoral researchers.

Rachel was appointed on the EPSRC strategic advisory network (SAN) in 2009 and served for almost 7 years. During this time she most significantly contributed to white papers on developing more flexible support for early career researchers, managing diversity and delivering impact. She holds a position as a review editor for Science and is an associate editor for Macromolecules.

Rachel leads the Rachel O’Reilly Group. Her group’s work has received numerous national and international awards for her polymer and material efforts, including, uniquely, four from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and, young researcher medals from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the world authority on chemical nomenclature and terminology.

To learn more about Rachel’s research have a look at a selection of her publications in Polymer Chemistry:

Self-catalysed folding of single chain nanoparticles (SCNPs) by NHC-mediated intramolecular benzoin condensation
Sofiem Garmendia, Andrew P. Dove, Daniel Taton and Rachel K. O’Reilly
Polym. Chem., 2019,10, 2282-2289

Reversible ionically-crosslinked single chain nanoparticles as bioinspired and recyclable nanoreactors for N-heterocyclic carbene organocatalysis
Sofiem Garmendia, Andrew P. Dove, Daniel Taton and Rachel K. O’Reilly
Polym. Chem., 2018,9, 5286-5294

The application of blocked isocyanate chemistry in the development of tunable thermoresponsive crosslinkers
Marianne S. Rolph, Maria Inam and Rachel K. O’Reilly
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 7229-7239

Understanding the CDSA of poly(lactide) containing triblock copolymers
Wei Yu, Maria Inam, Joseph R. Jones, Andrew P. Dove and  Rachel K. O’Reilly
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 5504-5512

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2020 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Rachel on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Now is your chance to put them forward for the accolade they deserve!

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2020 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer chemistry field.

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at the Warwick Polymer Meeting in 2020, where they will also be presented with the award. The Polymer Chemistry Editorial Office will provide financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs.

The recipient will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published.

Dr Frederik Wurm receiving his Lectureship award from Dr Neil Hammond (left) and Professor Filip Du Prez (right) at the EPF 2019

Previous winners

2019 – Frederik Wurm, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, having completed PhD and postdoctoral studies
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should be within 15 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave, or followed an alternative study path)

Although the Polymer Chemistry Lectureship doesn’t explicitly reward support of or contributions to the journal, candidates with no history of either publishing in or refereeing for the journal would typically not be considered.

Selection

• Eligible nominated candidates will be notified of their nomination, and will be asked to provide 3 recent articles that they feel represent their current research.
• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a shortlisting panel, made up of members of the Polymer Chemistry Advisory Board and a previous lectureship winner.
• The shortlisting panel will consider the articles provided by the candidates as well as their CVs and letters of nomination.
• Shortlisted candidates will be further assessed by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, and a winner will be selected based on an anonymous poll.
• Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and candidate CV, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the polymer chemistry community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Polymer Chemistry.

Nominations

• Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and should include a short CV (3 page maximum length) and a brief letter of nomination (1 page maximum length)
• Self-nomination is not permitted
• Nominators do not need to be senior researchers, and we encourage nominations from people at all career levels
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we believe we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds.
• Candidates outside of the stated eligibility criteria may still be considered

Nominations should be submitted no later than 30^th November 2019

Dr Frederik Wurm presented the 2019 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship and received his Award at the European Polymer Congress on the topic of polyphosphoesters.

The European Polymer congress is the main conference of the European Polymer Federation, an umbrella non-profit organization of almost all National Polymer Societies in Europe. The meeting took place from the 9th – 14th June and brought together researchers working on various aspects of polymer science.

Dr Frederik Wurm receiving his Lectureship award from Dr Neil Hammond (left) and Professor Filip Du Prez (right) at the EPF 2019

It is with great pleasure that we announce Priv.-Doz. Dr. Frederik Wurm (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research) as the recipient of the 2019 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship.

This award, now in its fifth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer chemistry field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Read on to find out more about Frederik…

Frederik received his PhD in 2009 from the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Germany) working on nonlinear block copolymers. From 2009 to 2011 he was a postdoctoral Humboldt fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) focusing on novel bioconjugation strategies. In 2012 he joined the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany) as a group leader in the department of Katharina Landfester. He is also junior faculty of the Max Planck Graduate Center (MPGC). He finished his habilitation in 2016 about “Polyphosphoresters and Smart Nanocarriers”.

Frederik has published over 150 research articles and received several awards such as the Georg Manecke Award and the Reimund Stadler Award of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh), the European Young Chemist Award, and the Lecturer Award of the German Chemical Industry Fund.

Frederik leads the research group “Functional Polymers” and develops new degradable and molecularly adjustable polymers. He has been particularly interested in biodegradable polyesters based on phosphoric acid in recent years. He has developed new bioinspired materials to facilitate their interaction with biomaterials, e.g. in human blood. Furthermore, such polyphosphoesters are interesting as alternatives to conventional plastics, with the ecological advantage of their degradability.

Frederik will present his lecture and receive his award at the European Polymer Congress in Crete in June.

To learn more about Frederik’s research have a look at some of his publications in Polymer Chemistry

Temperature responsive poly(phosphonate) copolymers: from single chains to macroscopic coacervates
Thomas Wolf,  Johannes Hunold,  Johanna Simon,  Christine Rosenauer,  Dariush Hinderberger  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2018,9, 490-498

Triazolinedione-“clicked” poly(phosphoester)s: systematic adjustment of thermal properties
Greta Becker,  Laetitia Vlaminck,  Maria M. Velencoso,  Filip E. Du Prez  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 4074-4078

Surface-attached poly(phosphoester)-hydrogels with benzophenone groups
Greta Becker,  Zhuoling Deng,  Maria Zober,  Manfred Wagner,  Karen Lienkamp  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2018,9, 315-326

The living anionic polymerization of activated aziridines: a systematic study of reaction conditions and kinetics
Elisabeth Rieger,  Tassilo Gleede,  Katja Weber,  Angelika Manhart,  Manfred Wagner  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 2824-2832

N-Ferrocenylsulfonyl-2-methylaziridine: the first ferrocene monomer for the anionic (co)polymerization of aziridines
Tatjana Homann-Müller,  Elisabeth Rieger,  Arda Alkan  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2016,7, 5501-5506

Side-chain poly(phosphoramidate)s via acyclic diene metathesis polycondensation
Alper Cankaya,  Mark Steinmann,  Yagmur Bülbül,  Ingo Lieberwirth  and  Frederik R. Wurm
Polym. Chem., 2016,7, 5004-5010

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2019 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Frederik on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Now is your chance to put them forward for the accolade they deserve!

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2019 Lectureship. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer chemistry field.

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at an international meeting in 2019, where they will also be presented with the award. The Polymer Chemistry Editorial Office will provide financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs.

The recipient will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published.

Left to right: Professor Cyrille Boyer with Dr Athina Anastasaki, Professor Emily Pentzer (Polymer Chemistry Associate Editor) and Dr Markus Muellner

Previous winners

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, having completed PhD and postdoctoral studies
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should be within 15 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave, or followed an alternative study path)

Selection

• Eligible nominated candidates will be notified of their nomination, and will be asked to provide 3 recent articles that they feel represent their current research.
• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a shortlisting panel, made up of members of the Polymer Chemistry Advisory Board and a previous lectureship winner.
• The shortlisting panel will consider the articles provided by the candidates as well as their CVs and letters of nomination.
• Shortlisted candidates will be further assessed by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, and a winner will be selected based on an anonymous poll.
• Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and candidate CV, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the polymer chemistry community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Polymer Chemistry.

Nominations

• Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and should include a short CV and a brief letter of nomination
• Self-nomination is not permitted
• Nominators do not need to be senior researchers, and we encourage nominations from people at all career levels
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we believe we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds.
• Candidates outside of the stated eligibility criteria may still be considered
• Nomination letters should be up to 1 page in length. They should particularly highlight contributions that the nominee has made to the field as an independent researcher, and any career breaks or alternative career paths that should be taken into consideration by the judging panel. Nomination of one candidate by multiple people in the same letter is accepted.

Nominations should be submitted no later than 15^th December 2018.

It is with great pleasure that we announce Prof Cyrille Boyer (University of New South Wales) as the recipient of the 2018 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship.

This award, now in its fourth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer chemistry field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

Read on to find out more about Cyrille…

Cyrille received his PhD in polymer chemistry from the University of Montpellier II (Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Montpellier) and he is currently Professor at the School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), co-Director of Australian Centre for NanoMedicine and a member of the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD).

He has received a number of awards such as the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the year 2015, the 2016 LeFevre Memorial Prize, 2016 ACS Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Award, the 2016 Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award and the 2018 Polymer International – IUPAC Award.

Cyrille has published over 200 articles and his research interests mainly cover the use of photoredox catalysts to perform controlled/living radical polymerization and polymer post-modification, the synthesis of polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery (antimicrobial polymers) and hybrid organic–inorganic nanoparticles for imaging and energy storage. In the last few years, his team has pioneered photoinduced electron/energy transfer reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (PET-RAFT) for the synthesis of functional polymers.

To learn more about Cyrille’s research have a look at some of his publications in Polymer Chemistry

The effects of polymer topology and chain length on the antimicrobial activity and hemocompatibility of amphiphilic ternary copolymers
Rashin Namivandi-Zangeneh, Rebecca J Kwan, Thuy-Khanh Nguyen, Jonathan Yeow, Frances L Byrne, Stefan H Oehlers, Edgar HH Wong, Cyrille Boyer
Polym. Chem., 2018, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C7PY01069A

Temperature programed photo-induced RAFT polymerization of stereo-block copolymers of poly(vinyl acetate)
Na Li,  Dongdong Ding,  Xiangqiang Pan,  Zhengbiao Zhang,  Jian Zhu,  Cyrille Boyer  and  Xiulin Zhu
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 6024-6027
DOI: 10.1039/C7PY01531C

Oxygen tolerant photopolymerization for ultralow volumes
Jonathan Yeow,  Robert Chapman,  Jiangtao Xua  and  Cyrille Boyer
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 5012-5022
DOI: 10.1039/C7PY00007C

RAFT-mediated, visible light-initiated single unit monomer insertion and its application in the synthesis of sequence-defined polymers
Changkui Fu,   Zixuan Huang,   Craig J. Hawker,   Graeme Moad,   Jiangtao Xu  and   Cyrille Boyer
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 4637-4643
DOI: 10.1039/C7PY00713B

Application of oxygen tolerant PET-RAFT to polymerization-induced self-assembly
Gervase Ng,   Jonathan Yeow,   Jiangtao Xu   and Cyrille Boyer
Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 2841-2851
DOI: 10.1039/C7PY00442G

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2018 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Cyrille on winning this award!