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

Postpolymerization Modification of Hydroxyl-Functionalized Polymers with Isocyanates
F Biedermann, EA Appel, J del Barrio, T Gruendling, C Barner-Kowollik, OA Scherman
Macromolecules
(2011)
44
The World of Cucurbiturils - From Peculiarity to Commodity
WM Nau, OA Scherman
Israel Journal of Chemistry
(2011)
51
Size selective supramolecular cages from aryl-bisimidazolium derivatives and cucurbit[8]uril
D Jiao, F Biedermann, OA Scherman
Organic Letters
(2011)
13
Cucurbituril: At the Interface of Small Molecule Host-Guest Chemistry and Dynamic Aggregates
D Das, OA Scherman
Israel Journal of Chemistry
(2011)
51
Supramolecular Glycopolymers in Water: A Reversible Route Toward Multivalent Carbohydrate-Lectin Conjugates Using Cucurbit[8]uril
J Geng, F Biedermann, JM Zayed, F Tian, OA Scherman
Macromolecules
(2011)
44
Precise Subnanometer Plasmonic Junctions for SERS within Gold Nanoparticle Assemblies Using Cucurbit[n]uril “Glue”
RW Taylor, T-C Lee, OA Scherman, R Esteban, J Aizpurua, FM Huang, JJ Baumberg, S Mahajan
ACS nano
(2011)
5
“On-demand” control of thermoresponsive properties of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) with cucurbit[8]uril host–guest complexes
U Rauwald, J del Barrio, XJ Loh, OA Scherman
Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
(2011)
47
Inside cover: host-guest-driven copolymerization of tetraphosphonate cavitands (chem. Eur. J. 48/2010).
F Tancini, RM Yebeutchou, L Pirondini, R De Zorzi, S Geremia, OA Scherman, E Dalcanale
Chemistry - A European Journal
(2011)
16
Plasmonic junctions with cucurbit[5]uril ‘glue’: fabrication of precise sub-nm junctions in gold nanoparticle assemblies
RW Taylor, TC Lee, OA Scherman, R Esteban, J Aizpurua, FM Huang, JJ Baumberg, S Mahajan
2011 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Laser Science to Photonic Applications CLEO 2011
(2011)
A supramolecular route for reversible protein-polymer conjugation
F Biedermann, U Rauwald, JM Zayed, OA Scherman
Chem. Sci.
(2011)
2

Head of group

Telephone number

01223 334372 (shared), 01223 331797

Email address

College