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Professor of Supramolecular & Polymer Chemistry / Director of the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis

What we do

Our research interests include the synthesis of functional nanosystems, controlled polymer architectures and dynamic supramolecular assemblies through molecular recognition processes.

The underlying theme of our research lies at the interface between synthetic organic efforts on small molecules and macroscopic properties at the materials level, developing a macro-organic approach to chemistry. Dynamic supramolecular self-assembly of materials will be an area of great importance in the coming years, allowing for innovations in nanotechnology and at the biological and chemical interfaces.

We are particularly interested in exploring topics such as water-soluble and stimuli-responsive materials, template and imprinting technologies of functional polymers for use in chiral separations and enantioselective catalysis, and controlling material morphologies and architectures both in solution and in the solid state through rational design and a multi-step, hierarchical self-assembly process.

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Publications

Biomimetic Entropy-Dominant Molecular Hinges with Picomolar Affinity.
Z Huang, AS Groombridge, G Wu, M Olesińska, X Chen, JA McCune, OA Scherman
– J Am Chem Soc
(2024)
146,
24244
Highly stretchable dynamic hydrogels for soft multilayer electronics.
S O'Neill, Z Huang, X Chen, R Sala, J McCune, G Malliaras, O Scherman
– Science advances
(2024)
10,
eadn5142
Improved Imaging Surface for Quantitative Single-Molecule Microscopy
YP Zhang, E Lobanova, A Dworkin, M Furlepa, WS Yang, M Burke, JX Meng, N Potter, RL Sala, L Kahanawita, F Layburn, OA Scherman, CH Williams-Gray, D Klenerman
– ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
(2024)
16,
37255
Single-Molecule Stoichiometry of Supramolecular Complexes.
A McLean, RL Sala, BW Longbottom, AR Carr, JA McCune, SF Lee, OA Scherman
– J Am Chem Soc
(2024)
146,
12877
Supramolecular hydrogels enable co-delivery of chemotherapeutics with synergistic efficacy against patient-derived glioblastoma cells and spheroids
RJ Cavanagh, S Baquain, C Alexander, OA Scherman, R Rahman
– RSC Pharmaceutics
(2024)
1,
742
Associative pyridinium electrolytes for air-tolerant redox flow batteries
ME Carrington, K Sokołowski, E Jónsson, EW Zhao, AM Graf, I Temprano, JA McCune, CP Grey, OA Scherman
– Nature
(2023)
623,
949
Plasmonic Sensing Assay for Long-Term Monitoring (PSALM) of Neurotransmitters in Urine.
W-H Chen, W Wang, Q Lin, D-B Grys, M Niihori, J Huang, S Hu, B de Nijs, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg
– ACS Nanoscience Au
(2022)
3,
161
Tracking Water Dimers in Ambient Nanocapsules by Vibrational Spectroscopy
AY Hwang, R Chikkaraddy, D-B Grys, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg, B de Nijs
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2022)
119,
e2212497119
Tissue-Mimetic Supramolecular Polymer Networks for Bioelectronics.
SJK O'Neill, Z Huang, MH Ahmed, AJ Boys, S Velasco-Bosom, J Li, RM Owens, JA McCune, GG Malliaras, OA Scherman
– Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
(2022)
35,
e2207634
Deconvoluting the Optical Response of Biocompatible Photonic Pigments.
Z Wang, CLC Chan, JS Haataja, L Schertel, R Li, GT van de Kerkhof, OA Scherman, RM Parker, S Vignolini
– Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
(2022)
61,
e202206562
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Head of group

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 331797

Email address