Missing Link between Helical Nano‐ and Microfilaments in B4 Phase Bent‐Core Liquid Crystals, and Deciphering which Chiral Center Controls the Filament Handedness (2019)
Journal Article
Shadpour, S., Nemati, A., Salamończyk, M., Prévôt, M. E., Liu, J., Boyd, N. J., …Hegmann, T. (2020). Missing Link between Helical Nano‐ and Microfilaments in B4 Phase Bent‐Core Liquid Crystals, and Deciphering which Chiral Center Controls the Filament Handedness. Small, 16(4), Article 1905591. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201905591

The range of possible morphologies for bent‐core B4 phase liquid crystals has recently expanded from helical nanofilaments (HNFs) and modulated HNFs to dual modulated HNFs, helical microfilaments, and heliconical‐layered nanocylinders. These new morp... Read More about Missing Link between Helical Nano‐ and Microfilaments in B4 Phase Bent‐Core Liquid Crystals, and Deciphering which Chiral Center Controls the Filament Handedness.

Threaded Rings that Swim in Excitable Media (2019)
Journal Article
Cincotti, A., Maucher, F., Evans, D., Chapin, B. M., Horner, K., Bromley, E., …Sutcliffe, P. (2019). Threaded Rings that Swim in Excitable Media. Physical Review Letters, 123(25), Article 258102. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.258102

Cardiac tissue and the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction provide two notable examples of excitable media that support scroll waves, in which a filament core is the source of spiral waves of excitation. Here we consider a novel topological configuration i... Read More about Threaded Rings that Swim in Excitable Media.

Shapeshifting molecules: The story so far and the shape of things to come (2019)
Journal Article
Bismillah, A., Chapin, B., Hussein, B., & McGonigal, P. (2020). Shapeshifting molecules: The story so far and the shape of things to come. Chemical Science, 11(2), 324-332. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sc05482k

Shapeshifting molecules exhibit rapid constitutional dynamics while remaining stable, isolable molecules, making them promising artificial scaffolds from which to explore complex biological systems and create new functional materials. However, their... Read More about Shapeshifting molecules: The story so far and the shape of things to come.

Photoelectron spectroscopy of para-benzoquinone cluster anions (2019)
Journal Article
Mensa-Bonsu, G., Wilson, M. R., Tozer, D. J., & Verlet, J. R. (2019). Photoelectron spectroscopy of para-benzoquinone cluster anions. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 151(20), Article 204302. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5132391

The photoelectron spectra of para-benzoquinone radical cluster anions, (pBQ)n− (n = 2–4), taken at hv = 4.00 eV are presented and compared with the photoelectron spectrum of the monomer (n = 1). For all clusters, a direct detachment peak can be ident... Read More about Photoelectron spectroscopy of para-benzoquinone cluster anions.

Highlights from Faraday Discussion 301: Nanolithography of Biointerfaces, London, UK, July 3–5 2019 (2019)
Journal Article
Mahon, C. S., & Huang, M. L. (2019). Highlights from Faraday Discussion 301: Nanolithography of Biointerfaces, London, UK, July 3–5 2019. Chemical Communications, 55(91), 13631-13637. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9cc90421b

The 2019 Faraday Discussion on the Nanolithography of Biointerfaces brought together a diverse set of interdisciplinary scientists involved in the seemingly disparate fields of materials science, nanolithography and glycoscience. The setting and form... Read More about Highlights from Faraday Discussion 301: Nanolithography of Biointerfaces, London, UK, July 3–5 2019.

Extensive sequential polymorphic interconversion in the solid-state: Two hydrates and ten anhydrous phases of hexamidine diisethionate (2019)
Journal Article
Edkins, K., McIntyre, G. J., Wilkinson, C., Kahlenberg, V., Toebbens, D. M., Griesser, U. J., …Steed, J. W. (2019). Extensive sequential polymorphic interconversion in the solid-state: Two hydrates and ten anhydrous phases of hexamidine diisethionate. Crystal Growth and Design, 2019(19), 7280-7289. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.9b01170

Crystal polymorphism and solvent inclusion is a dominant research area in the pharmaceutical industry and continues to unveil complex systems. Here, we present the solid-state system of hexamidine diisethionate (HDI), an antiseptic drug compound form... Read More about Extensive sequential polymorphic interconversion in the solid-state: Two hydrates and ten anhydrous phases of hexamidine diisethionate.

Understanding copolymerisation kinetics for the design of functional copolymers via free radical polymerisation (2019)
Journal Article
Boulding, N. A., Millican, J. M., & Hutchings, L. R. (2019). Understanding copolymerisation kinetics for the design of functional copolymers via free radical polymerisation. Polymer Chemistry, 10(41), 5665-5675. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9py01294j

Determining the monomer sequence distribution of copolymers is important when correlating copolymer molecular structure (random, gradient etc.) to macroscopic/material properties. We report here the relative monomer reactivities for the copolymerisat... Read More about Understanding copolymerisation kinetics for the design of functional copolymers via free radical polymerisation.

In Situ Fabrication of Polymeric Microcapsules by Ink-Jet Printing of Emulsions (2019)
Journal Article
Deng, R., Wang, Y., Yang, L., & Bain, C. D. (2019). In Situ Fabrication of Polymeric Microcapsules by Ink-Jet Printing of Emulsions. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11(43), 40652-40661. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b14417

Phase separation driven by solvent evaporation of emulsions can be used to create polymeric microcapsules. The combination of emulsion solvent evaporation with ink-jet printing allows the rapid fabrication of polymeric microcapsules at a target locat... Read More about In Situ Fabrication of Polymeric Microcapsules by Ink-Jet Printing of Emulsions.

Fabrication of monolayers of uniform polymeric particles by inkjet printing of monodisperse emulsions produced by microfluidics (2019)
Journal Article
Wang, Y., Deng, R., Yang, L., & Bain, C. D. (2019). Fabrication of monolayers of uniform polymeric particles by inkjet printing of monodisperse emulsions produced by microfluidics. Lab on a Chip, 19(18), 3077-3085. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9lc00588a

Emulsion solvent evaporation is a well-established method for generating microparticles from solutions of polymers in volatile organic solvents dispersed in an aqueous medium. Previous work has shown that this approach can also be used to deposit par... Read More about Fabrication of monolayers of uniform polymeric particles by inkjet printing of monodisperse emulsions produced by microfluidics.

Enhancing the Efficiency in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on a Metal Oxide Nanocomposite Gel Polymer Electrolyte (2019)
Journal Article
Saidi, N. M., Omar, F. S., Numan, A., Apperley, D. C., Algaradah, M. M., Kasi, R., …Subramaniam, R. T. (2019). Enhancing the Efficiency in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on a Metal Oxide Nanocomposite Gel Polymer Electrolyte. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11(33), 30185-30196. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b07062

In order to overcome the critical limitations of liquid electrolyte-based dye-sensitized solar cells, quasi-solid-state electrolytes have been explored as a means of addressing long-term device stability, albeit with comparatively low ionic conductiv... Read More about Enhancing the Efficiency in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on a Metal Oxide Nanocomposite Gel Polymer Electrolyte.

Revealing Resonance Effects and Intramolecular Dipole Interactions in the Positional Isomers of Benzonitrile-Core Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials (2019)
Journal Article
Kukhta, N., Higginbotham, H., Matulaitis, T., Danos, A., Bismillah, A., Haase, N., …Monkman, A. (2019). Revealing Resonance Effects and Intramolecular Dipole Interactions in the Positional Isomers of Benzonitrile-Core Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials. Journal of Materials Chemistry C Materials for optical and electronic devices, 7(30), 9184-9194. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9tc02742d

We report on the properties of the three positional isomers of (2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethylacridin-10(9H)-yl)benzonitrile, which are found to have comparable donor steric environments and donor–acceptor dihedral angles. An unexpected intramolecula... Read More about Revealing Resonance Effects and Intramolecular Dipole Interactions in the Positional Isomers of Benzonitrile-Core Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials.

Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers (2019)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, S., Hoyle, D., McLeish, T., Munch, E., Schach, R., Smith, A., & Thompson, R. (2019). Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers. Soft Matter, 15(26), 5296-5307. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8sm02580k

This paper describes the structures created by assembling functionalised entangled polymers and the effect these have on the rheology of the material. A polybutadiene (PBd) linear polymer precursor of sufficient molecular weight to be entangled is us... Read More about Association and Relaxation of Supra-Macromolecular Polymers.

Carbohydrate-Supramolecular Gels: Adsorbents for Chromium(VI) Removal from Wastewater (2019)
Journal Article
Rizzo, C., Andrews, J. L., Steed, J. W., & D'Anna, F. (2019). Carbohydrate-Supramolecular Gels: Adsorbents for Chromium(VI) Removal from Wastewater. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 548, 184-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2019.04.034

Hypothesis: To overcome the contamination of water by heavy metals the adsorption of the pollutant on gel phases is an attractive solution since gels are inexpensive, potentially highly efficient and form a distinct phase while allowing diffusion of... Read More about Carbohydrate-Supramolecular Gels: Adsorbents for Chromium(VI) Removal from Wastewater.

Persistent Dimer Emission in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials (2019)
Journal Article
Etherington, M. K., Kukhta, N. A., Higginbotham, H. F., Danos, A., Bismillah, A. N., Graves, D. R., …Monkman, A. P. (2019). Persistent Dimer Emission in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 123(17), 11109-11117. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b01458

We expose significant changes in emission color of carbazole-based thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters that arise through the presence of persistent dimer states in thin films and organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs). Direct phot... Read More about Persistent Dimer Emission in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials.

Drying of ethanol/water droplets containing silica nanoparticles (2019)
Journal Article
Shi, J., Yang, L., & Bain, C. D. (2019). Drying of ethanol/water droplets containing silica nanoparticles. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11(15), 14275-14285. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b21731

The evaporation of colloidal drop on a substrate with a pinned contact line usually results in a ring stain (the so-called coffee-ring effect). In this paper, we present an investigation of the evaporation of sessile picoliter droplets of binary solv... Read More about Drying of ethanol/water droplets containing silica nanoparticles.

A ‘catch-and-release’ receptor for the cholera toxin (2019)
Journal Article
Mahon, C. S., Wildsmith, G. C., Haksar, D., de Poel, E., Beekman, J. M., Pieters, R. J., …Turnbull, W. B. (2019). A ‘catch-and-release’ receptor for the cholera toxin. Faraday Discussions, 219, 112-127. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9fd00017h

Stimuli-responsive receptors for the recognition unit of the cholera toxin (CTB) have been prepared by attaching multiple copies of its natural carbohydrate ligand, the GM1 oligosaccharide, to a thermoresponsive polymer scaffold. Below their lower cr... Read More about A ‘catch-and-release’ receptor for the cholera toxin.

Regioselective Functionalization of 7‐Azaindole by Controlled Annular Isomerism: The Directed Metalation‐Group Dance (2019)
Journal Article
Snieckus, V., Patel, J., Kitching, M., Dalziel, M., Cosman, J., & Kaye, M. (2019). Regioselective Functionalization of 7‐Azaindole by Controlled Annular Isomerism: The Directed Metalation‐Group Dance. Angewandte Chemie, 131(22), 7391-7395. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201901724

The regioselective functionalization of 7‐azaindole by controlled annular directed metalation group isomerism is reported. The N‐7 carbamoyl azaindoles 2a–b undergo regioselective metalation and electrophile quench to furnish C‐6 substituted derivati... Read More about Regioselective Functionalization of 7‐Azaindole by Controlled Annular Isomerism: The Directed Metalation‐Group Dance.

Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels (2019)
Journal Article
Jones, C. D., Simmons, H. T., Horner, K. E., Liu, K., Thompson, R. L., & Steed, J. W. (2019). Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels. Nature Chemistry, 11, 375-381. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0222-0

Helical nanofibres play key roles in many biological processes. Entanglements between helices can aid gelation by producing thick, interconnected fibres, but the details of this process are poorly understood. Here, we describe the assembly of an achi... Read More about Braiding, branching and chiral amplification of nanofibres in supramolecular gels.

Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction (2019)
Journal Article
Robertson, B., Thompson, R. L., McLeish, T. C., & Robinson, I. (2019). Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction. Journal of Rheology, 63(2), 319-333. https://doi.org/10.1122/1.5058207

This paper describes finite-element simulations and associated experimental studies of extrudate swell for near-monodisperse and polydisperse polystyrenes. The tube-model based Rolie-Poly constitutive model, when extended to include a reduction of mo... Read More about Polymer extrudate-swell: From monodisperse melts to polydispersity and flow-induced reduction in monomer friction.

Heliconical-layered nanocylinders (HLNCs) –hierarchical self-assembly in a unique B4 phase liquid crystal morphology (2019)
Journal Article
Shadpour, S., Nemati, A., Boyd, N. J., Li, L., Prevot, M. E., Wakerlin, S. L., …Hegmann, T. (2019). Heliconical-layered nanocylinders (HLNCs) –hierarchical self-assembly in a unique B4 phase liquid crystal morphology. Materials Horizons, 6(5), 959--968. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9mh00089e

A unique morphology for bent-core liquid crystals forming the B4 phase has been found for a class of tris-biphenyl bent-core liquid crystal molecules with a single chiral side chain in the longer para-side of the molecule. Unlike the parent molecules... Read More about Heliconical-layered nanocylinders (HLNCs) –hierarchical self-assembly in a unique B4 phase liquid crystal morphology.