Research Interest

As a synthetic chemist, it is my foremost motivation to turn molecular level understanding into useful polymer properties. In order to design novel monomers and assess their ability to eventually furnish monolayers of two-dimensional polymers (2DPs), I currently investigate cyclo-additions other than the well-known [4+4] anthracene dimerization.^[1]

I found a new system (a) that now allows using a [2+2] topochemical polymerization^[2] to prepare 2DPs from single crystals. The strength of this system lies in its easy accessibility (35 g prepared after single runs of a 4 step synthesis (b) – no columns), crystals grow in sizes of up to 5 mm (c) and wet exfoliation is carried out to yield polyelectrolytic multi and single layers of polymer within a few days (d). The reaction from monomer to polymer crystals is mediated by visible light and the mechanism/structure is evidenced by XRD, IR and ¹³C CP/MAS NMR.

The current research aims at fractionating 2DP dispersions and to explore possible applications for organic electronics. Modifications of (a) will show how material properties can be tuned in this respect.

References

1. a) M. J. Kory, M. Wörle, T. Weber, P. Payamyar, S. W. van de Poll, J. Dshemuchadse, N. Trapp, A. D. Schlüter, Nat. Chem. 2014, 6, 779-784
   b) P. Kissel, D. J. Murray, W. J. Wulftange, V. J. Catalano, B. T. King, Nat. Chem. 2014, 6, 774-778.
2. a) K. Hesse, S. Hünig, Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1985, 715-739
   b) K. Novak, V. Enkelmann, G. Wegner, K. B. Wagener, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1993, 32, 1614-1616.

Publications