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

Temperature‐ and Voltage‐Induced Ligand Rearrangement of a Dynamic Electroluminescent Metallopolymer
D Asil, JA Foster, A Patra, X de Hatten, J del Barrio, OA Scherman, JR Nitschke, RH Friend
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
(2014)
53
Temperature‐ and Voltage‐Induced Ligand Rearrangement of a Dynamic Electroluminescent Metallopolymer
D Asil, JA Foster, A Patra, X de Hatten, J del Barrio, OA Scherman, JR Nitschke, RH Friend
Angewandte Chemie
(2014)
126
Efficient host-guest energy transfer in polycationic cyclophane-perylene diimide complexes in water
STJ Ryan, J Del Barrio, I Ghosh, F Biedermann, AI Lazar, Y Lan, RJ Coulston, WM Nau, OA Scherman
Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2014)
136
Host–guest accelerated photodimerisation of anthracene-labeled macromolecules in water
F Biedermann, I Ross, OA Scherman
Polymer Chemistry
(2014)
5
Highly active metastable ruthenium nanoparticles for hydrogen production through the catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane
EK Abo-Hamed, T Pennycook, Y Vaynzof, C Toprakcioglu, A Koutsioubas, OA Scherman
Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
(2014)
10
Supramolecular Chemistry at Interfaces: Host–Guest Interactions for Fabricating Multifunctional Biointerfaces
H Yang, B Yuan, X Zhang, OA Scherman
Accounts of chemical research
(2014)
47
Supramolecular Polymerization Promoted and Controlled through Self‐Sorting
Z Huang, L Yang, Y Liu, Z Wang, OA Scherman, X Zhang
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
(2014)
53
pH-controlled release of auxin plant hormones from cucurbit[7]uril macrocycle
A Nuzzo, OA Scherman, P Mazzei, A Piccolo
Applied Adhesion Science
(2014)
3
Healable, stable and stiff hydrogels: Combining conflicting properties using dynamic and selective three-component recognition with reinforcing cellulose nanorods
JR McKee, EA Appel, J Seitsonen, E Kontturi, OA Scherman, O Ikkala
Advanced Functional Materials
(2014)
24
Gluing gels: A nanoparticle solution.
EA Appel, OA Scherman
Nat Mater
(2014)
13

Head of group

Telephone number

01223 334372 (shared), 01223 331797

Email address

College