Chemistry - Physical Chemistry Seminars

Prof. Peng Chen, Cornell University, "Single polymer growth dynamics at single-monomer resolution"

Event Type

Seminar/Symposium

Sponsor

Prof. Mikael Backlund

Location

Chemical & Life Sciences Lab, 601 S Goodwin Ave, B-102

Date

Nov 5, 2025   2:00 - 3:00 pm  

Contact

Randy Prince

E-Mail

rlprince@illinois.edu

Phone

217-333-2540

Views

27

This presentation will describe our efforts in developing and applying single-molecule manipulation and imaging approaches to study living polymerization reactions of single polymer chains down to single-monomer resolution. In the first part, I will describe our work in using magnetic tweezers to track single polymer growth in real time and the discovery of nonequilibrium conformational entanglements that play key roles in controlling polymerization kinetics. In the second part, I will describe a new fluorescence-based imaging technique that enables following polymerization of individual polymers at single-monomer resolution, leading to microscopic sequencing of synthetic copolymers and discovery of copolymer sequence patterns.

Key references:

• C. Liu,^† K. Kubo,^† E. Wang,^† K.-S. Han, F. Yang, G. Chen, F. A. Escobedo,* G. W. Coates,* P. Chen* “Single polymer growth dynamics” Science 2017, 358, 352-355.
• S. Baral, C. Liu, U. K. Chakraborty, K. Kubo, X. Mao, G. W. Coates, P. Chen* “Single-chain polymerization dynamics and conformational mechanics of conjugated polymers” Chem 2021, 7, 2175-2189.
• S. Baral,^† C. Liu,^†,* X. Mao, G. W. Coates, P. Chen* “Tuning single polymer growth via hydrogen bonding in conformational entanglements” ACS Cent. Sci. 2022, 8, 1116-1124.
• R. Ye,^† X. Sun,^† X. Mao,^† F. Alfonso, S. Baral, C. Liu, G. Coates, P. Chen* “Optical sequencing of single synthetic polymers” Nature Chem. 2024, 16, 210-217.
• U. Chakraborty, M. Yang, S. Baral, C. Liu, A. Chen, P. Chen* “Biphasic mechanochemistry of single-chain polymerization” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2025, 122, e2418844122.