University navigation
Douglas L. GIN
Office Phone: 303 735 1107 and 303 492 7640
E-mail: Douglas.Gin@colorado.edu
FAX: 303 492 8595
Lab: Cristol Chemistry 263 and 12
Lab Phone: 303 735 5448
Group Website: Gin Lab
Ph.D.: California Institute of Technology, 1993
Postdoctoral Fellow: University of Pennsylvania, 1992-94
Organic Materials and Polymer Chemistry
One of the major goals in materials chemistry is controlling the architecture of synthetic materials on the nanometer-scale (1 nm = 1 billionth of a meter). Nanometer-scale architecture is frequently encountered in biological materials such as bone, shell and wood; and is primarily responsible for their impressive properties. Nature is able to achieve such order through the self-organization of biogenic starting materials. Unfortunately, control of order in synthetic polymers has traditionally been achieved through post-synthesis processing techniques, which only affords a limited degree of control over small-scale architecture. One of the principal questions currently being addressed in material chemistry is whether materials with unique or superior bulk properties could be attained if nanometer-scale architectural control could be achieved with modern engineering components.
Over the past years, we have developed a successful research program directed at controlling small-scale organization in synthetic, polymer-based materials through the use of self-organizing monomers as building blocks. The central theme of our research is the design and synthesis of polymerizable molecules based on organic liquid crystals (LCs).
LCs are molecules that self-assemble into organized phases that are intermediate between crystalline solids and isotropic liquids. In these mesophases, the molecules are dynamic and behave like a viscous fluid, while still maintaining a degree of order reminiscent of a crystalline solid. LCs may adopt various phases, depending on (1) the temperature (i.e., thermotropic LCs) or (2) their concentration in a solvent such as water (i.e., lyotropic or amphiphilic LCs) (Figure 1). Through appropriate design of the LC monomers and in situ polymerization techniques, we have polymerized the assemblies into robust networks with preservation of their nanostructure. The combination of these techniques affords ordered polymer-based materials with a degree of sophistication unparalleled in the fabrication of synthetic polymers. These organic assemblies are then used for the construction of a variety of advanced, functional materials.
Figure 1: Common thermotropic and lyotropic LC phases
home | undergraduate | graduate | research | people | facilities | news & events | courses