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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.

Watch Professor Scherman discuss his research

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Publications

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 (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)

(2022)

134,

e202206562

(doi: 10.1002/ange.202206562)

Supramolecular encapsulation of redox-active monomers to enable free-radical polymerisation

S Mommer, K Sokołowski, M Olesińska, Z Huang, OA Scherman

– Chemical science

(2022)

13,

8791

(doi: 10.1039/d2sc02072f)

On-Resin Recognition of Aromatic Oligopeptides and Proteins through Host-Enhanced Heterodimerization

O Scherman, J McCune, X Chen, Z Huang, K Sokolowski, R Sala Lang, A McLean, G Wu, K King

– J Am Chem Soc

(2022)

144,

8474

(doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c02287)

Facile, Energy Efficient Microscale Fibrillation of Polyacrylamides under Ambient Conditions

MV Cruz, DU Shah, NC Warner, JA McCune, OA Scherman

– Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)

(2022)

34,

e2201577

(doi: 10.1002/adma.202201577)

A Platform Approach to Protein Encapsulates with Controllable Surface Chemistry.

N Warner, IG Osojnik Črnivec, VK Rana, M Cruz, OA Scherman

– Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)

(2022)

27,

2197

(doi: 10.3390/molecules27072197)

Water content and guest size dictate the mechanical properties of cyclodextrin mediated hydrogels

DJ Whitaker, J Park, C Ueda, G Wu, A Harada, G Matsuba, Y Takashima, OA Scherman

– Polymer Chemistry

(2022)

13,

5127

(doi: 10.1039/d2py00769j)

SERSbot: Revealing the Details of SERS Multianalyte Sensing Using Full Automation.

D-B Grys, B de Nijs, J Huang, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg

– ACS Sensors

(2021)

6,

4507

(doi: 10.1021/acssensors.1c02116)

Highly Compressible Glass-like Supramolecular Polymer Networks

Z Huang, X Chen, SJK O'Neill, G Wu, DJ Whitaker, J Li, JA McCune, OA Scherman

– Nat Mater

(2021)

21,

103

(doi: 10.1038/s41563-021-01124-x)

Introduction: Molecular Self-Assembly.

D Pochan, O Scherman

– Chem Rev

(2021)

121,

13699

(doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00884)

Nanoparticle surfactants for kinetically-arrested photoactive assemblies to track light-induced electron transfer

K Sokołowski, J Huang, T Földes, JA McCune, DD Xu, B de Nijs, R Chikkaraddy, SM Collins, E Rosta, JJ Baumberg, OA Scherman

– Nat Nanotechnol

(2021)

16,

1121

(doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-00949-6)