Assembling dendritic and branched molecules at interfaces

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Assembling dendritic and branched molecules at
interfaces Vladimir Tsukruk, Iowa State
University, DMR-0308982-Polymers.
Educational and general activities
- Kirsten Genson received PhD and moved to NIST
as an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow (second female
student) - Kirsten Genson was awarded ISU
Research Excellence Award (best PhD in MSE
Department, Dec. 2005) - Kirsten Genson was
selected for ISU Zaffarano Prize (Best student
research productivity at ISU, April 2006) - Kyle
Anderson, REU student, received Paper Award for
Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science
(ACS Natl. Meeting, March 2006) - Kathy Bergman,
REU student, completed her BS degree and joined
our group as a PhD student in May 2006 - 12
refereed publications (NanoLett., Macromolecules,
Langmuir, J. Phys. Chem., Adv. Funct. Mat.,
TSF) - Collaboration McGrath( Arizona), Vaknin
(Ames Lab), Zubarev (Rice), Tsitsilianis
(Patras), Lee (Yonsei), Shibaev (Moscow),
Shevchenko (Kiev), Petrash (NSC) - Symposium on
Highly Branched Polymers organized by PI at ACS
Natl. Meeting, Atlanta featured 60 presenters -
Two articles on our findings in popular media
(Biophotonic Intern. and Ion Channel Media
Group) - Article on our research was featured at
APS Science, 2005, ANL-05/04, 102.
We focused on an understanding the surface
assembly of novel highly branched molecules
including liquid crystalline siloxane-core
dendrimer, star copolymers, photochromic
dendrons, rod-dendrons, and silver-binding
hyperbranches critical for prospective
nanotechnological applications. We have observed
assembly of dendrimers in wavy bilayers (Fig. 1),
reduction of silver nanoparticles by
hyperbranches (Fig. 2) and fluorescent web
formation from rod-dendron ribbons (Fig. 3).
Fig. 1. Molecular model of siloxane-core LC
dendrimer and its surface bilayer morphology
15 nm
Macromolecules, 2005, 38, 8028
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Assembling dendritic and branched molecules at
interfaces Vladimir Tsukruk, Iowa State
University, DMR-0308982-Polymers.
Major Research Accomplishments, 2005-2006
Fig. 3. Fluorescent web (FOM and SEM) with
star-shaped aggregates and twisted ribbon-like
structures from amphiphilic rod-dendron molecules
(center) and bilayerribbon ordering suggested
based on X-ray data (right).
Fig 2. Amine-functionalized hyperbranched
molecule (top, left) and silver nanoparticle
formation (top, right) under Langmuir monolayer
as monitored by synchrotron (APS) Xray
reflectivity (bottom, left) and AFM (bottom,
right).
Nano Lett. 2006, 6, 435 Langmuir, 2006, 22, 1027