Supramolecular Chemistry and Organic Materials

Supramolecular Chemistry and Organic Materials

Since 2008, the underlying theme of our research lies at the interface between synthetic efforts on small molecules/polymers and macroscopic properties at the materials level, thus developing a supramolecular approach to bio-inspired organic and hybrid functional materials. The major objective is the improvements in the opto-electronic properties of π-conjugated systems via a supramolecular self-assembly approach. Some of the specific areas of research initiated in our supramolecular chemistry laboratory are organic/supramolecular synthesis of pi-conjugated systems, charge-transfer nano-fibers, organic-inorganic hybrid materials, stimuli-responsive/supramolecular polymers, bio-inspired dynamic assemblies, and helical assemblies.

Since 2015, we directed our research work towards understanding of self-organization of biological systems that have amazing spatio-temporal control over their self-assembly and functions as well as utilizing the knowledge of supramolecular organization for material applications such as development of novel functional organic and hybrid materials. During this period, we made unique contributions in the field of mechanistic aspects of supramolecular polymerizations and the design of living and non-equilibrium supramolecular polymerization.

The research output from our group has had significant impact on recent developments in both Basic and Applied Chemistry. Our pioneering work on temporal supramolecular polymers has resulted in fundamental mechanistic understanding of non-equilibrium processes governing their synthesis, advancing the frontiers in this area of research. On the other hand, we brought in novel concepts in soft materials leading to organic opto-electronic devices with enhanced efficiency. With a focus on supramolecular self-assembly, our research interest has strong emphasis on (i) Fundamental understanding of supramolecular polymerization in terms of mechanisms, active at various time and length scales and (ii) Applications of functional supramolecular organic materials in optoelectronic devices. The followings are our recent area of interest: