Archive for the ‘News’ Category

3D printing enters the next dimension

Scientists in the US have added a new dimension to 3D printing with a strategy that controls the chemical composition of printed features, as well as their three-dimensional position.

The University of Miami team’s setup allows controlling both 3D position and monomer composition of a photopolymerisable mixture

With 3D printing systems becoming more mainstream, platforms that overcome their current limitations are increasingly relevant. Ideally, they should print different polymers close together, independently control their position and be compatible with delicate organic and biologically active materials.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Optimization of 4D polymer printing within a massively parallel flow-through photochemical microreactor
Xiaoming Liu, Yeting Zheng, Samuel R. Peurifoy, Ezan A. Kothari and Adam B. Braunschweig �
Polym. Chem., 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6PY00283H, Paper

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Polymer Chemistry welcomes new Associate Editor Hong Chen and new Advisory Board members!

We are delighted to welcome Professor Hong Chen (Soochow University, China) to the PolymerChemistry Editorial Board as an Associate Editor, as well as our new Advisory Board members.

Leading the Macromolecules and Biointerface Lab (MacBio), a key laboratory at Soochow University, Hong’s research interests include surface modification and functionalisation of biomaterials, interactions between biomaterials and proteins or cells, the hemocompatibility of biomaterials, and biological detection.

An experienced editor, Hong was previously a member of the Polymer Chemistry Advisory Board. She has made a significant contribution to the field and to the journal, and we are very excited to have her take a leading role in the Polymer Chemistry team!

As a Polymer Chemistry Associate Editor, Hong will be handling submissions to the journal. Why not submit your next paper to her Editorial Office?

To find out more about Hong’s research, take a look at her recent Polymer Chemistry papers:

Efficient cancer cell capturing SiNWAs prepared via surface-initiated SET-LRP and click chemistry
Lulu Xue, Zhonglin Lyu, Yafei Luan, Xinhong Xiong, Jingjing Pan, Gaojian Chen and Hong Chen
Polym. Chem., 2015, 6, 3708-3715

Facile synthesis, sequence-tuned thermoresponsive behaviours and reaction-induced reorganization of water-soluble keto-polymers
Xianghua Tang, Jie Han, Zhengguang Zhu, Xinhua Lu, Hong Chen and Yuanli Cai
Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 4115-4123

Combining surface topography with polymer chemistry: exploring new interfacial biological phenomena
Dan Li, Qing Zheng, Yanwei Wang and Hong Chen
Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 14-24

We also warmly welcome our new Advisory Board members to the Polymer Chemistry team:

  • Matthew Becker, University of Akron, USA
  • Xuesi Chen, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  • Didier Gigmes, Aix-Marseilles Université, CNRS, France
  • Sophie Guillaume, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, France
  • Thomas Junkers, Hasselt University, Belgium
  • Toyoji Kakuchi, Hokkaido University, Japan
  • Jacques Lalevée, Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, France
  • Guey-Sheng Liou, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  • Ravin Narain, University of Alberta, Canada
  • Felix Schacher, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
  • Lei Tao, Tsinghua University, China
  • Yusuf Yagci, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

The full Polymer Chemistry team can be found on our website.

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Polymers curl up and take control

Scientists in Germany have successfully collapsed single polymer chains into dense nanoparticles, to make single-chain nanoparticles, by adding palladium.1 The nanoparticles mimic enzymatic pockets with defined environments around their metal centres and can catalyse a carbon coupling reaction.

The intramolecular crosslinking process creates single-chain nanoparticles that catalyse a Sonogashira coupling reaction

Enzymes use their carefully shaped reaction cavities to selectively catalyse organic reactions. Industrial processes crave selectivity, but also demand straightforward procedures. Synthesising and separating enzymes in practical quantities is, however, tricky, so they aren’t always suitable for industry. One solution to this might be single-chain nanoparticles, which have recently become a hot topic in the field of polymer chemistry.2 Their applications range from sensing to recognition, and medicine to catalysis, but only a few groups have studied their synthesis and even fewer have looked at the introduction of metals.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Pd-complex driven formation of single-chain nanoparticles
Johannes Willenbacher, Ozcan Altintas, Vanessa Trouillet, Nicolai Knöfel, Michael J. Monteiro, Peter W. Roesky and Christopher Barner-Kowollik
Polym. Chem., 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5PY00389J, Paper

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Polymer Chemistry is going weekly

From 2015, Polymer Chemistry will be moving to weekly publication. We will be increasing the number of issues per year from the current 24 to 48 whilst maintaing the high quality of the journal.

This is great news and a very positive way to mark Polymer Chemistry‘s fifth anniversary next year. It is because of the support we receive from the community that Polymer Chemistry has been going from strength to strength, and we would like to thank all of our readers, authors, referees and board members for their contributions to the journal.

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Magnetic field and pH synergy controls therapeutic burst

Australian researchers have shown how alternating magnetic fields could be used to localise the release of cancer-fighting drugs to cancer cells, limiting side effects in the rest of the body.

May Lim at the University of New South Wales, and colleagues, have devised a system where a magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticle is bound to a temperature-responsive polymer onto which drug molecules can be attached via Schiff base bonds.

A magnetic field combined with the acidic environment of cancer tissue results in rapid hydrolysis of the Schiff base bond

A magnetic field combined with the acidic environment of cancer tissue results in rapid hydrolysis of the Schiff base bond

Interested? Read the full article at Chemistry World.

Spatial and temporal control of drug release through pH and alternating magnetic field induced breakage of Schiff base bonds
Alexander E. Dunn, Douglas J. Dunn, Alexander Macmillan, Renee Whan, Tim Stait-Gardner, William S. Price, May Lim and  Cyrille Boyer
Polym. Chem., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4PY00150H

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Polymer Chemistry Insight day: Healthcare to Solar Cells

On Thursday 22nd May 2014, the Warwick Polymer Club will be hosting a one-day international meeting ‘Polymer Chemistry: Healthcare to Solar Cells‘.
Held at the University of Warwick, this is an excellent opportunity to hear talks from international experts in the field of polymer chemistry, including:
  • Sebastien Perrier (University of Warwick)
  • Brent Summerlin (University of Florida)
  • Professor Wenping Hu (ICCAS, Beijing)
  • Professor Heather Maynard (UCLA)
  • Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))
  • Professor Wei You (University of North Carolina)
  • Professor Eva Harth (Vanderbilt University)
  • Professor Benzhong Tang (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST))

Topics will cover the latest developments in the sector in all aspects of healthcare to solar cells, ranging from therapeutic aspects/nanomedicine to OPV’s/conducting polymers.

Better yet, the event is FREE to attend! And, if required, overnight accommodation is available in the University’s award winning on-campus conference accommodation.

To attend, please register on the Polymer Club website. More information about the event and speaker biographies are also available here.
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Brent Sumerlin interviewed in Chemistry World

Polymer Chemistry Associate Editor Brent Sumerlin has been interviewed in Chemistry World! He talks to Laura Howes about his work developing smart polymers for delivering insulin to treat people with diabetes.

Here’s a sneak preview…

How would you describe your work?

We are synthetic polymer chemists and all of the materials we’re interested in are smart materials. They’re not really smart – they can only do one thing – but they do that one thing really well.

Usually they’re block copolymers in solution and they self-assemble or dissociate depending on the conditions around them like pH or temperature. We want to make polymers that respond to their environment and can be useful for things like drug delivery.

Is your work mainly focussed on drug delivery?

Yes, mainly. There are two ways of thinking about it. One would be to specifically release a compound in one environment under a specific set of conditions. Another way to think about it would be to instead encapsulate something under specific conditions. We haven’t done work in that area directly but it is common to use similar materials for, say, wastewater remediation. In both cases you’re trying to encapsulate something hydrophobic, it’s just whether you want to release it or not.

Do you have particular biological targets or problems you want to solve?

Most of our interest has been in the area of diabetes, and I think that’s what sets our work apart from a lot of other smart polymer chemists. Most people are working on cancer but diabetes is also a problem of growing importance. The polymers we work with respond to sugar, and under a high concentration of sugar they become hydrophilic. So if you can make an aggregate that’s held together by these polymers, when there’s a lot of sugar around, they become water-soluble and dissolve, potentially releasing insulin from inside. We like this approach because it combines the glucose monitoring and insulin production into one feedback step.

Read more about Brent’s research, and find out how he coped with moving his research group 1000 miles across the US, in Brent Sumerlin: Searching for a sweet response.

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Introducing new Associate Editor Professor Bin Liu

We are very pleased to announce a new addition to the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board: Professor Bin Liu will join the team as an Associate Editor from the beginning of February 2014.

Bin Liu received a B.S. degree from Nanjing University and a Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore (NUS) before her postdoctoral training at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department of NUS in 2005. She was promoted to associate Professor in 2010 and was named as Dean’s Chair Professor in 2014. She has received several awards, including the National Science and Technology Young Scientist Award 2008 and L’Oreal Woman in Science National Fellowship 2011. Her current research focuses on conjugated polymers and organic nanoparticles for sensing, imaging, therapy and optoelectronic device applications.

Bin Liu’s recent papers include:

A water-soluble conjugated polymer brush with multihydroxy dendritic side chains
Li Zhou, Junlong Geng, Guan Wang, Jie Liu and Bin Liu 
Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 5243-5251 DOI: 10.1039/C3PY21080D

Bright far-red/near-infrared fluorescent conjugated polymer nanoparticles for targeted imaging of HER2-positive cancer cells
Jie Liu, Guangxue Feng, Dan Ding and Bin Liu 
Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 4326-4334 DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00605K

Single molecular hyperbranched nanoprobes for fluorescence and magnetic resonance dual modal imaging
Jie Liu, Kai Li, Junlong Geng, Li Zhou, Prashant Chandrasekharan, Chang-Tong Yang and Bin Liu 
Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 1517-1524 DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20837G

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign-up to our RSS feed or Table of contents alert.

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Poster prize winners at the 2013 International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials

Many congratulations to the winners at the 2013 International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials! 

Chosen by an independent panel, the winners were: Akira Matsumoto (Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering at Tokyo Medical and Dental University) for the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B & C poster prize, Justin Poelma for Polymer Chemistry and Saemi Oh for Soft Matter (University of California, Santa Barbara). 

The symposium which focuses on the field of stimuli-responsive materials from academia, industry, and government took place in October (20 – 22) this year at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa, CA and was co-sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

Akira Matsumoto

Akira Matsumoto receiving his poster prize for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B, C

Justin Poelma

Justin Poelma receiving his prize for Polmer Chemistry

Saemi Oh winning the Soft Matter poster prize

Follow the latest journal news on Twitter @PolymChem or go to our Facebook page.

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IPST2013: International Polymer Conference, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The Innovation in Polymer Science and Technology 2013 (IPST2013) was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on October 7 – 10, 2013 and organised by the Indonesian Polymer Association (HPI). It was attended by more than 250 participants from over 20 countries; presenting about 200 paper works consisting of 102 oral and 108 poster presentations, including 7 plenary speakers, and 24 keynote speakers. To date, this event was the biggest international polymer conference, organised by the Indonesian Polymer Association.

IPST2013

The conference was officially opened by the representative of Indonesian government, the Ministry of Research and Technology of Indonesia. The Indonesian Polymer Association presented a 2013 HPI award to Dr. M. Sugandi (a former of the HPI’s chair) for her lifetime contributions in polymer research as well as in the polymer society in Indonesia. The best student posters were awarded to 5 students: Arum Patriati (Indonesia), Shih Ming Chang (Taiwan), Emiko Ohara (Japan), Ayami Nagayama (Japan), and Koay Seong Chun (Malaysia). Zainon Othman (Malaysia) and Firman Kurniawansyah (Indonesia) were awarded the best oral presentation prize.

The IPST2013 was officially closed by Ms. Eniya L. Dewi, the chair of the IPST2013 and ICFCHT2013. The next conference will take place in 2016 (IPST2016) and will be held in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia. We look forward to seeing you there!

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