Professor of Supramolecular & Polymer Chemistry / Director of the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis

What we do

Our research interests include the synthesis of functional nanosystems, controlled polymer architectures and dynamic supramolecular assemblies through molecular recognition processes.

The underlying theme of our research lies at the interface between synthetic organic efforts on small molecules and macroscopic properties at the materials level, developing a macro-organic approach to chemistry. Dynamic supramolecular self-assembly of materials will be an area of great importance in the coming years, allowing for innovations in nanotechnology and at the biological and chemical interfaces.

We are particularly interested in exploring topics such as water-soluble and stimuli-responsive materials, template and imprinting technologies of functional polymers for use in chiral separations and enantioselective catalysis, and controlling material morphologies and architectures both in solution and in the solid state through rational design and a multi-step, hierarchical self-assembly process.

Watch Professor Scherman discuss his research

Take a tour of the Scherman Lab

Publications

Controlling Spatiotemporal Mechanics of Supramolecular Hydrogel Networks with Highly Branched Cucurbit[8]uril Polyrotaxanes
CSY Tan, J Liu, AS Groombridge, SJ Barrow, CA Dreiss, OA Scherman
Advanced Functional Materials
(2018)
28
Plasmon-induced optical control over dithionite-mediated chemical redox reactions
J Huang, B de Nijs, S Cormier, K Sokolowski, D-B Grys, CA Readman, SJ Barrow, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg
Faraday discussions
(2018)
214
Cucurbit[7]uril as a Supramolecular Artificial Enzyme for Diels-Alder Reactions.
A Palma, M Artelsmair, W Guanglu, SJ Barrow, X Lu, N Uddin, E Rosta, E Masson, OA Scherman
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
(2017)
56
Plasmonic tunnel junctions for single-molecule redox chemistry.
B de Nijs, F Benz, SJ Barrow, DO Sigle, R Chikkaraddy, A Palma, C Carnegie, M Kamp, R Sundararaman, P Narang, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg
Nature Communications
(2017)
8
Cucurbit[7]uril as a Supramolecular Artificial Enzyme for Diels–Alder Reactions
A Palma, M Artelsmair, G Wu, X Lu, SJ Barrow, N Uddin, E Rosta, E Masson, OA Scherman
Angewandte Chemie
(2017)
129
Photo-induced interfacial electron transfer of ZnO nanocrystals to control supramolecular assembly in waterd
AM Cieślak, E-R Janeček, K Sokołowski, T Ratajczyk, MK Leszczyński, OA Scherman, J Lewiński
Nanoscale
(2017)
9
Mapping SERS in CB:Au Plasmonic Nanoaggregates
C Carnegie, R Chikkaraddy, F Benz, B de Nijs, WM Deacon, M Horton, W Wang, C Readman, SJ Barrow, OA Scherman, JJ Baumberg
ACS Photonics
(2017)
4
Distinguishing relaxation dynamics in transiently crosslinked polymeric networks
CSY Tan, G Agmon, J Liu, D Hoogland, E-R Janeček, EA Appel, OA Scherman
Polymer Chemistry
(2017)
8
Toward a versatile toolbox for cucurbit[n]uril-based supramolecular hydrogel networks through in situ polymerization.
J Liu, C Tan, Y Lan, OA Scherman
Journal of Polymer Science, Part A: Polymer Chemistry
(2017)
55
A simple supramolecular assay for drug detection in urine.
S Sonzini, JA McCune, P Ravn, OA Scherman, CF van der Walle
Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
(2017)
53

Head of group

Telephone number

01223 331797, 01223 334372 (shared)

Email address

College