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In celebration of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for their work on the design and synthesis of molecular machines.

Developing the world’s smallest machines: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa

Jean-Pierre Sauvage took the first step towards a molecular machine in 1983, when he successfully  linked two ring-shaped molecules together to form a chain, called a catenane. The molecules in this chain are linked by a mechanical bond, allowing the two interlocked rings to move relative to each other, performing like a tiny machine.

Fraser Stoddart took the second step in 1991, when he developed a rotaxane by threading a molecular ring onto a thin molecular axle. The ring is able to move along the axle enabling a number of developments such as a molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a molecule-based computer chip.

Bernard Feringa took the third step by developing the first molecular motor in 1999 when he got a molecular rotor blade to spin continually in the same direction. Using molecular motors, he has rotated a glass cylinder that is 10,000 times bigger than the motor and also designed a nanocar!

The ground breaking steps taken by the 2016 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry in developing molecular machinery have resulted in a toolbox of chemical structures that can be used by researchers around the world to build anything from artificial switches and release-targeted drugs to novel energy storage systems!

To celebrate these remarkable achievements, we are delighted to present a collection of recent Soft Matter and Polymer Chemistry articles on molecular machines FREE to read until 1 December 2016!

We invite you to submit your best research related to molecular machines to Soft Matter and Polymer Chemistry!


Reviews
Integrated motion of molecular machines in supramolecular polymeric scaffolds
Xuzhou Yan, Bo Zheng and Feihe Huang
Polym. Chem., 2013, 4, 2395-2399
DOI: 10.1039/C3PY00060E

Research articles
Topological energy storage of work generated by nanomotors
Fabian Weysser, Olivier Benzerara, Albert Johner and Igor M. Kulić
Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 732-740
DOI: 10.1039/C4SM02294G

Hydrodynamics and propulsion mechanism of self-propelled catalytic micromotors: model and experiment
Longqiu Li, Jiyuan Wang, Tianlong Li, Wenping Song and Guangyu Zhang
Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 7511-7518
DOI: 10.1039/C4SM01070A

Construction of muscle-like metallo-supramolecular polymers from a pillar[5]arene-based [c2]daisy chain
Lingyan Gao, Zibin Zhang, Bo Zheng and Feihe Huang
Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 5734-5739
DOI: 10.1039/C4PY00733F

An acid/base switchable and reversibly cross-linkable polyrotaxane
Shijun Li, Guan-Huan Weng, Wei Lin, Zhi-Bin Sun, Mi Zhou, Bin Zhu, Yang Ye and Jing Wu
Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 3994-4001
DOI: 10.1039/C4PY00409D

Dual stimuli-responsive supramolecular pseudo-polyrotaxane hydrogels
Lipeng Zhou, Jiaxi Li, Quan Luo, Junyan Zhu, Huixin Zou, Yuzhou Gao, Liang Wang, Jiayun Xu, Zeyuan Dong and Junqiu Liu
Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 4635-4641
DOI: 10.1039/C3SM27776C

pH-responsive dendritic polyrotaxane drug-polymer conjugates forming nanoparticles as efficient drug delivery system for cancer therapy
Yang Kang, Xiao-Mei Zhang, Sheng Zhang, Li-Sheng Ding and Bang-Jing Li
Polym. Chem., 2015, 6, 2098-2107
DOI: 10.1039/C4PY01431F

Phototriggered supramolecular polymerization of a [c2]daisy chain rotaxane
Xin Fu, Rui-Rui Gu, Qi Zhang, Si-Jia Rao, Xiu-Li Zheng, Da-Hui Qu and He Tian
Polym. Chem., 2016, 7, 2166-2170
DOI: 10.1039/C6PY00309E


Also of interest: Find out more about the three Chemistry Nobel Laureates and their research.

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Soft Matter Lectureship awarded

The Soft Matter Lectureship, now in its seventh year, is an annual award that honours an early-stage career researcher for their significant contribution to the soft matter field. The recipient is selected by the Soft Matter Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

This month during the 4th International Soft Matter Conference (ISMC 2016) in Grenoble, France, we were delighted to present Professor Damien Baigl with his Soft Matter Lectureship.

Damien Baigl (second from the right in the photo) receiving his Soft Matter Lectureship

Professors Christos Likos (first from left in the photo), Dimitris Vlassopoulos (second from left) and Jan Dhont (first from right), Associate Editors of Soft Matter, presented the award to Damien in the presence of Executive Editor Dr Neil Hammond (third from right).

We would like to thank the organisers of ISMC 2016 for their collaboration with the award ceremony.

Please join us in congratulating Damien in his fantastic achievement!

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Top 10 Reviewers for Soft Matter

In celebration of Peer Review Week, with the theme of Recognition for Review, we would like to highlight the top 10 reviewers for Soft Matter in 2016, as selected by the editor for their significant contribution to the journal.

Top 10 Reviewers for Soft Matter:
– Professor Jan Dhont – ICS-3, Germany
– Dr Kaigiang Liu – Shaanxi Normal University, China
– Dr Wei Hong – Iowa State University, USA
– Professor Jan Vermant – ETH Zurich, Switzerland
– Dr Yilin Wang – Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
– Dr Giorgio Cinacchi – Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
– Dr Laurent Courbin – CNRS, France
– Dr Chinedum Osuji – Yale University, USA
– Dr Kevin Cavicchi – The University of Akron, USA
– Dr Alejandro Rey – McGill University, Canada

We would like to say a massive thank you to these reviewers as well as the Soft Matter board and all of the soft matter community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

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4th International Soft Matter Conference

We are delighted to announce that the 4th International Soft Matter Conference (ISMC2016) will be held in Grenoble, France from 12-16 September 2016

ISMC2016

Three previous conferences were held in Aachen (2007), Granada (2010) and Rome (2013), and brought together up to 800 researchers working in the soft matter field.

Damien Baigl, 2016 Soft Matter Lectureship winner

The conference will cover both the fundamental and applied aspects of soft matter and complex systems. Local organisers of ISMC2016 include scientists from the large-scale facilities ILL and ESRF as well as from the Grenoble University and other research organisations such as CEA, CNRS, and INPG.

ISMC2016 is expected to provide a common platform for discussion on contemporary issues and future directions in the field.

Soft Matter proudly sponsors this event:

Professor Damien Baigl will be presented with the 2016 Soft Matter Lectureship during a special Soft Matter symposium chaired by Associate Editors Christo Likos and Dimitris Vlassopoulos, who will be both keynote speakers at the conference.


Mark your calendar and register now for ISMC2016
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Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation

Cover image - Courtesy of N. J. Brooks.

Royal Society Publishing has recently published a special issue of Philosophical Transactions A entitled Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation.

The collection was organised and edited by Michael Cates, John Seddon, Nicholas Brooks, Paul Clegg and Alex Lips. who wrote an Introduction piece.

This themed issue reports papers presented at a Discussion Meeting intended not only to address the fundamental science, focusing on generic design principles for self-organisation and interfacial structure, but also to explore the resulting prospects for ‘informed formulation’ of new and improved industrial products.


This issue is available to read online, including the Introduction which is free to access:

Introduction:

Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation
N. J. Brooks, M. E. Cates, P. S. Clegg, A. Lips, W. C. K. Poon, J. M. Seddon


Research articles:

– Non-ionic surfactant phase diagram prediction by recursive partitioning
Gordon Bell

The physics of stratum corneum lipid membranes
Chinmay Das, Peter D. Olmsted

Lipid self-assembled structures for reactivity control in food
L. Sagalowicz, C. Moccand, T. Davidek, R. Ghanbari, I. Martiel, R. Negrini, R. Mezzenga, M. E. Leser, I. Blank, M. Michel

– Exploring the in meso crystallization mechanism by characterizing the lipid mesophase microenvironment during the growth of single transmembrane α-helical peptide crystals
Leonie van ‘t Hag, Konstantin Knoblich, Shane A. Seabrook, Nigel M. Kirby, Stephen T. Mudie, Deborah Lau, Xu Li, Sally L. Gras, Xavier Mulet, Matthew E. Call, Melissa J. Call, Calum J. Drummond, Charlotte E. Conn

Determining drug release rates of hydrophobic compounds from nanocarriers
Suzanne M. D’Addio, Abdallah A. Bukari, Mohammed Dawoud, Heike Bunjes, Carlos Rinaldi, Robert K. Prud’homme

Arrested coalescence of viscoelastic droplets: polydisperse doublets
Prerna Dahiya, Marco Caggioni, Patrick T. Spicer

A phenomenological description of BslA assemblies across multiple length scales
Ryan J. Morris, Keith M. Bromley, Nicola Stanley-Wall, Cait E. MacPhee

Some modification of cellulose nanocrystals for functional Pickering emulsions
Dorra Saidane, Emilie Perrin, Fanch Cherhal, Florian Guellec, Isabelle Capron

Manufacture of poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres using membrane emulsification
Jaiyana Bux, Mohamed S. Manga, Timothy N. Hunter, Simon Biggs


Review articles:

Cationic liposome–nucleic acid nanoparticle assemblies with applications in gene delivery and gene silencing
Ramsey N. Majzoub, Kai K. Ewert, Cyrus R. Safinya

Physical basis of some membrane shaping mechanisms
Mijo Simunovic, Coline Prévost, Andrew Callan-Jones, Patricia Bassereau

Soft electrostatic repulsion in particle monolayers at liquid interfaces: surface pressure and effect of aggregation
Peter A. Kralchevsky, Krassimir D. Danov, Plamen V. Petkov

Curvature-driven assembly in soft matter
Iris B. Liu, Nima Sharifi-Mood, Kathleen J. Stebe


Opinion piece:

Self-assembly of small peptide amphiphiles, the structures formed and their applications. (A foods and home and personal care perspective)
W. J. Frith


We hope you enjoy reading this collection.

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2nd International Conference on Soft Materials

After the great success of ICSM 2014, we are pleased to announce the second edition of the International Conference on Soft Materials (ICSM 2016).

On behalf of the organising committee, we would like to invite scientists, academicians, young researchers and students from all over the world to attend the ICSM 2016 in Pink City Jaipur.

This conference will bring together, once again, a multi-disciplinary and international group of scientists to promote and enhance recent achievements in the field of soft materials. The exchange of knowledge and discussions amongst participants will be favoured during the conference and related social events.

Interested participants might extend their stay over weekend and see Jaipur and historical monuments in nearby cities like Taj Mahal (Agra), Pushkar (Ajmer) and Red Fort (New Delhi).


Mark these dates in your diary:
15 August 2016 – Abstract deadline
31 August 2016 – Notification of accepted abstracts
30 September 2016 – Early bird registration closes
31 October 2016 – Online registration closes
12-16 December 2016 – Conference is held in Jaipur, India



For more information, please contact the organising committee:

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