Exploring Suzuki Catalyst Transfer Polymerization: Opportunities and Applications in Advanced Materials, Biomedicine, Nanotechnology, and Electronics
Graphene is a potential candidate for next-generation transistor materials. The bottom-up preparation of carbon-based nanomaterials, such as solution-based quasi one dimensional graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), provide the excellent width and edge control key to such technologies. Effective implementation of carbon-based nano-electronics relies heavily on the ability to precisely and reproducibly engineer such
GNRs.
The efficacy of this approach also lies in the ability to control and tune the lengths of these GNRs, whereas GNRs have been synthesized almost exclusively through step-growth polymerizations and suffer from unpredictable molecular weight variability, leading to large polymer dispersities and impeding precise GNR length control. On the other hand, catalyst transfer polymerization (CTP) offers a reproducible method for generating polymers with precise molecular weights, low dispersities, and controlled functional group sequencing.
Recent pivotal works have demonstrated successful implementation of Suzuki CTP to grow length-controlled GNR precursors.1 Herein, we build on these works by designing and synthesizing bidirectional initiators (I) that are employed for the bilateral, isoregic growths of an o-terphenylene monomer (M) which features orthogonal functional groups that define the axis of polymerization. SEC and 1H NMR data reveal a reliable mechanism of low dispersity, bilateral polymerizations with irreversible termination at both chain ends.2 We further apply our strategy to synthesize chemically addressable polymer systems that can be chemoselectively functionalized for potential applications in nano-electronics, including biosensing and GNRs featuring topologically protected end states.
Christina Dadich is currently a researcher at UC Berkeley in the Department of Chemistry where she is advised by Professor Felix Fischer. Her doctoral research focuses on the synthesis and application of oxidative addition complexes that can be employed for catalyst transfer polymerization (CTP) to access carbon-based nanomaterials. Spanning the interface of synthetic organic chemistry, physics, and electrical
engineering, Christina’s work ventures to narrow the gap between the single molecular scale and traditional macroscopic electrical circuit elements. Before attending UC Berkeley, Christina received her B.S. in Chemistry from The Florida State University.
[1] Pun, S. H.*, Delgado, A.*, Dadich, C. M.*, Cronin, A., Fischer, F. R., Controlled Catalyst Transfer Polymerization in Graphene Nanoribbon Synthesis, Chem-Us 2024, 10, 675-685.
*These authors contributed equally
[2] Dadich, C. M., Fischer, F. R., Bidirectional Suzuki Catalyst Transfer Polymerization of Poly(p-phenylene) 2024, under review.
Optical spectroscopy of nanoscale materials – Rydberg Excitons and Beyond
In this presentation, I will highlight recent advances in the study of Rydberg excitons in WSe₂, where high-quality samples have enabled a more detailed exploration of their properties, including precise measurements of excited-state lifetimes. As highly excited states of electron-hole pairs, Rydberg excitons exhibit enhanced interactions due to their large spatial extent, making them an ideal system for probing fundamental quantum phenomena. These excitons offer unique insights into long-range interactions in two-dimensional materials and hold significant potential for applications in quantum technologies, such as quantum computing and next-generation optoelectronic devices.
I will also discuss the advanced optical spectroscopy and miceroscopy techniques utilized in Dr. Raja’s lab to investigate atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers, their heterostructures, and other nanoscale materials.
Dr. Daria Blach is a postdoctoral researcher at the Molecular Foundry under the supervision of Dr. Archana Raja. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University in 2022. Her research explores ultrafast optoelectronic properties of novel low-dimensional nanomaterials for energy and quantum information applications.