Polymer Chemistry Blog

Hanying Zhao received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from HeFei University of Technology in China in 1988, his MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 1993, and a PhD in Polymer Chemistry and Physics from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1997. From 1997 to 2004, he conducted postdoctoral research in Fudan University, Institute of Polymer Research in Dresden, University of Florida and Clarkson University. He joined the Department of Chemistry at Nankai University in 2004, and now he is a professor of chemistry. His current research interests include: (1) synthesis and self-assembly of macromolecules with different topological structures, (2) synthesis of polymer brushes on solid surfaces, (3) synthesis and self-assembly of shape amphiphiles (gold nanoparticles, single-chain nanoparticles, Janus structures).

Webpage: http://chem.nankai.edu.cn/teachers/echo-1.php?id=zhaohanying

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Actually, until I received my master degree, I was not sure what job I should take, to be a chemist or an engineer? I thought it was not a bad thing to have a PhD degree, so I went to Changchun to pursue my PhD. I studied under Professor Baotong Huang at Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. Huang was an eminent polymer chemist at that time. In my research, I synthesized block copolymers by anionic polymerization, I found polymer chemistry is so beautiful and I never left this field since then. Now all the research conducted in our group is related to polymer chemistry.

What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article? (DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00516J)

Usually polymeric micelles are composed of hydrophobic cores and hydrophilic coronae. The hydrophobic cores can be used as nanosized vehicles for hydrophobic compounds. In our article, we described a method to prepare hydrophilic interface-crosslinked polymeric micelles. The interfaces of the micelles are crosslinked by atom transfer radical coupling reaction, and the stability of the micelles is improved. The cores and the coronae of the micelles are hydrophilic, and the hydrophilic micelles can be used as nanoreactors for the synthesis of CdS quantum dots, and nanocarriers for the absorption of methylene blue, a positively charged dye. In comparison to the traditional polymer micelles, the hydrophilic micelles may find broader applications in aqueous solutions.   

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work? )

Polymer Chemistry is a leading journal in the fields of polymer science and polymer materials. We believe that publishing our paper in this journal can help the paper to be read by a broad scope of readers. Another reason is the rapid review process.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will probably attend the Fall 2014 ACS meeting.

How do you spend your spare time?

In my spare time, I usually play badminton with my students. I enjoy reading history books.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I love science. I guess, if I were not a scientist, I would be a teacher in a middle-school, or a doctor in a hospital.

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Prof. Peihong Ni graduated from Nanjing University in 1982 with a B.Sc. degree in Polymer Chemistry. She received her M.Sc. degree in Organic Chemistry from Soochow University (Suzhou, China) in 1988, and her Ph.D. degree in Polymer Chemistry and Physics under the supervision of Prof. Shoukuan Fu from Fudan University in 2001. Since 1988, she has been a faculty member in Soochow University as a teaching assistant (1988-1989), lecturer (1989-1996), associate professor (1996-2003) and full professor (since 2003). She worked in Eastern Michigan University (EMU, 1998-1999) as a Ph.D. candidate on a joint program between Fudan and EMU. Her current research interests are in the design and synthesis of biocompatible and stimuli-responsive polymers for biomedical applications, fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon hybrid amphiphilic copolymers, as well as (mini)emulsion polymerization. She has published more than 70 peered-reviewed articles and three book chapters, and held 13 authorized patents of China.

 Research Website: http://chemistry.suda.edu.cn/en/index.aspx?lanmuid=80&sublanmuid=636&id=170

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

It came when I was still in my junior high years, when I began to admire scientists, and was inspired by some practical chemistry experiments, which made me decide on my later choice of chemistry as a career. And it continued during my university period when my particular interest in chemistry grew stronger. Later on, as I worked as a college teacher and continued to pursue my M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees, the interest brought me even greater delight. Now I feel fortunate that I never have changed my choice of chemistry, and polymer chemistry in particular.

What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article?

Over the past decade, my team and I started from oxyanion-initiated polymerization, and further extended to “living”/controlled polymerization, ring-opening polymerization in the design and synthesis of stimuli-responsive amphiphilic polymers. We have studied the self-assembly behavior of these polymers. Under the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), we have gradually concentrated our emphasis on the preparation of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, as well as their potential applications in gene and drug delivery. In particular, we have paid close attention to the biomedical application of polyphosphoesters. This paper is our latest progress in this field, and it reports on the preparation of a novel water-soluble polymeric prodrug, paclitaxel-polyphosphoester conjugated with targeted folic acid molecules. The results show that it offers a convenient but efficient approach for the construction of multifunctional polymeric prodrugs.

I’d like to use this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks for all those who have contributed to this work.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work? (DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00419H )

As regular readers of Polymer Chemistry, our group has noted that many well-known polymer scientists have reported their research progress in this journal. This journal has quickly become one of the key journals in polymer science because of the original content, attractive design, and high-quality pictures. We hope the publication of this article here will bring us more chances of exchange and cooperation from the polymer community worldwide.

At which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the Chinese Polymer Conference in October 12-16^th, Shanghai (http://www.polymer.cn/polymer2013) and the 13^th Pacific Polymer Conference in November 17-22^nd, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (http://www.ppc2013.tw/index.html).

How do you spend your spare time?

My greatest enthusiasm is still for chemistry and most of my spare time is immersed in it. In addition, music is also my hobby. I love my family, and especially like to talk with my daughter over everything she is interested in. Seeing her growing from a baby to a graduate student, I have learned how parents and their children can be good friends, and how to help young people to follow their academic pursuits unremittingly and keep improving themselves.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

Maybe I would be a photographer. Quite a few of the pictures I have shot surprised my friends and they even thought I should be a professional rather than an amateur photographer.

Prof. Jiannian Yao received his PhD degree with Prof. Akira Fujishima at Tokyo University in 1993. Then he joined the Institute of Photographic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and now he is a Professor of Chemistry in the Institute of Chemistry, CAS. He has been a member of CAS since 2005, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) since 2008. He is currently serving as the chairman of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS), and is the vice president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). His research interests include organic and inorganic opto-functional materials. He has published more than 350 papers, which have been cited nearly 6000 times.

(Research Group: http://jnyao.iccas.ac.cn/)

 What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Chemistry is a very central discipline, which connects the profound principles in physics and the complex phenomena in materials/biological science. Through various chemical routes, we can build molecules, clusters, nanoparticles, mesoscopic structures, and macroscopic materials over a wide range of scales. This not only provides us an ideal test bed to prove our bold theoretical conjectures, but also gives rise to many practical applications that help in solving the energy demand and environment problem. I am really enjoying my research in chemistry, and I hope it will contribute to both scientific advance and people’s everyday life.

What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article?

As potential alternatives to the widely used electron-acceptor of PCBM, highly efficient non-fullerene small molecules with excellent solution-processability are the key bottleneck for the further advances of the solution-processed non-fullerene organic solar cells (OSCs). Our initial motivation is to develop new efficient solution-processed non-fullerene small molecules. Perylene diimide (PDI) derivatives are potential non-fullerene small molecules and have been researched for several tens of years, but their strong aggregation ability normally limits their potential applications in the field of OSCs. To resolve this problem, we have designed and synthesized a series of PDI dimers which combine both the twisted molecular conformations and the amphiphilic side chains. This design concept carries out the balance between the pi-pi stacking ordering of the PDI chromphores and the reduced aggregate size of the acceptor phase when blended with a donor. As part of our findings, this Polymer Chemistry article ( DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00457K) tells the steric pairing effects from the twisted conformations of the molecular backbone and the role of the solvophilic and twisted bridge. Both of them determine the molecular aggregation ability and further the photovoltaic properties of the non-fullerene OSCs, shedding light on the fine-tuning molecular aggregation ability by judicious molecular tailoring.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work? (DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00457K)

Polymer Chemistry is a leading journal in the field of polymer science with many high quality and impact papers in the photovoltaic field. Also, the reviewing and publishing process is very fast, ensuring a timely report of our latest results.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 29th Chinese Chemical Society (CCS) Congress held by Peking University in the year of 2014. This congress will invite chemists from China and many other countries (US, UK, Germany, Japan, etc.).

How do you spend your spare time?

I liked playing volleyball very much when I was younger. In these years, I often do some exercises on a treadmill machine, or just take a walk with my family. Chinese calligraphy is also one of my hobbies.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I would probably be engaged in the education career. I believe teaching the younger generation is essential to social progress. Actually, helping my students with their research is a very important part of my current job.

Cyrille Boyer is a guest web-writer for Polymer Chemistry. He is currently associate professor and an ARC-Future Fellow at the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine and Center for Advanced Macromolecular Design (School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (Australia)).

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