 |
| Born Zhejiang Province, China, 1959. |
| Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, B.S., 1982; M.S., 1984. |
| University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1989. |
| Postdoctoral Associate, 1989-1991. |
| The University of Chicago, Professor, 1991-. |
| |
| Accolades |
| 2004 Special Creativity Award from the National Science Foundation. |
| 1998 Mr. and Mrs. Sun Chan Memorial Award in Organic Chemistry. |
| 1994-1999 National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award. |
| 1993-1995 Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award. |
| 1991-1996 Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. |
|
|
| Luping Yu |
| Professor |
|
|
| |
| Research Interests: |
| My research is focused on the interfacial area between organic chemistry and materials science. This area has rich opportunities for organic chemists both in fundamental science and practical technologies. There are five current projects in the group, covering three areas of chemistry. |
| |
| 1. Polymerization Methodology |
| We are especially interested in exploring reactions that require mild reaction conditions. Typical examples include: |
| |
|
a). Palladium-mediated coupling reactions (The Heck reaction, the Stille coupling reaction) for polycondensation; |
| |
|
b). Living ring-opening polymerization for the synthesis of biocompatible polyesters; |
| |
|
c). Chemoselective ligation for the preparation of biocompatible diblock copolymers; |
| |
|
d). Orthogonal approach for the synthesis of well-defined oligophenylenevinylenes. |
| |
| 2. Molecular Electronics |
| It is well known that the extended π-electronic systems of conjugated polymers exhibit numerous physical properties similar to semiconductors. It will be very interesting if one can synthesize conjugated diblock copolymers to explore their self-assembly behavior, and associated physical properties, such as rectifying effect, optical and electric switching. Careful engineering of these molecules, both in their amphiphilic properties and electronic properties will allow us to assemble these molecules into monolayers or connect them in electric circuits, crucial for the realization of molecular electronic devices. These materials present the unlimited opportunity to further fundamental knowledge of the electronic and structural properties of organic electroactive materials. |
| |
| 3. Photorefractive and Electro-Optic Polymers |
| The pursuit of research of photorefractive polymers is driven by both the fundamental challenge in identifying the basic synthetic principles of these multi-functional polymers and their potential for practical applications, such as for optical signal processing and information storage. Organic photorefractive (PR) materials are a new kind of electro-optic material which possesses both electro-optic effect and photoconductivity. It is a challenge to integrate these properties into a single polymer system that will exhibit this PR effect. This project involves a great deal of organic synthesis of new polymer structures. These new structures are designed based on our current understanding and synthesized and characterized to test our new hypothesis. |
| |
| 4. Functional polymers containing metal complexes |
| Metal complexes exhibit rich electro-magnetic and optical properties, which can be explored for electro-optic materials. One of our projects is to combine organic conjugated polymers with transition metal complexes to investigate new physical properties, such as photorefractive effects, photoconductivity and novel redox property. These polymers exhibit promising potential for applications in solar energy conversion, sensors, polymer-supported electrodes, nonlinear optics, photorefraction and electroluminescence. |
| |
| 5. Supramolecular Assembly of Nanostructured Materials |
| Research on nanostructured materials is the new frontier in materials science. A challenging task in this area is to manipulate nanostructured materials and assemble them into desired structural forms-one, two or three-dimensional structures so that the unique physical properties associated with nanostructured materials can be harvested. Organic chemistry plays a crucial role in the development of nanoscience and nanotechnlogy. Supramolecular assembly of nanostructured materials is the key to the success. We are developing new supramolecular approaches to assemble nanoclusters into one, two or three-dimensional structures. The new approaches also allow us to prepare ultra-thin polymer films with functions such as electro-optic effects, biomedical properties and biosensor applications. |
| |
| Selected References |
| Fully Functionalized Photorefractive
Polymer with Infrared Sensitivity
Based on Novel Chromophores. Macromolecules, 36(19), 7014-7019, (2003). |
| Dramatic Enhancement of
Photorefractive Properties by
Controlling Electron Trap Density in
a Monolithic Materials. Adv. Mater., 16, 356-360, (2004). |
| Supramolecular Self-Assembly of
Conjugated Diblock Copolymers. Chem. Eur. J. 10, 986-993, (2004). |
| Functional Polymers for Layer-by-
Layer Construction of Multilayers
via Chemoselective
Immobilization. Macromol., 37(5), 1849-1856, (2004). |
| Chemoselective immobilization of Gold Nanonanoparticles onto Self-Assembled Monolayers. Langmuire, 18, 311-313, (2002). |
| Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Conjugated Diblock Copolymers. Chemistry - A European Journal, 8, 3246-3253, (2002). |
| A Novel Layer-by-Layer Approach to Immobilization of Polymers and Nanoclusters. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 124, 12238-12243 (2002). |
| Synthesis and Structure/Property Correlation of Fully Functionalized Photorefractive Polymers, Macromol., 35, 4636-4645, (2002). |
| Synthesis of Amphiphilic Conjugated Diblock Oligomers As Molecular Diodes, Angew. Chem. Engl. Ed, 41, 3598-3601, (2002). |
| Molecular Diodes Based Upon Conjugated Diblock Co-oligomers, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 124, 11862-11863 (2002) |
| Supramolecular Solid State Assemblies Exhibiting Electro-Optic Effects, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 546 (2000). |
| Syntheses of Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymers Containing a Conjugated Block and Their Self-Assembling Properties. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 6855 (2000). |
| |
|
Organic Chemistry 