SESSION 2B: Inaugural lectures by Fellows /Associates

Rajiva Raman

Fuel-driven temporal supramolecular polymers

Living supramolecular polymerization has emerged as a synthetic strategy to construct supramolecular assemblies with well-defined structure and dispersity. On the other hand, temporal control over dynamic materials is now being extended to the non-equilibrium regime. The synergy between structural and temporal control is important for the advent of supramolecular polymers to be employed as functional adaptive materials. To gain this symbiosis it is imperative that a common strategy is sought. The speaker is currently trying to develop and study a chemical-fuel controlled supramolecular system that not only follows living supramolecular aggregating regime but also can be regulated temporally through various molecular cues. This talk describes his efforts in understanding this very key concept of biological self-assembly, which has temporal control over supramolecular polymerization via a chemical fuel as he thinks this approach can singlehandedly cater to various existing challenges of supramolecular chemistry such as a living supramolecular polymerization, control over nucleation rate, transient materials and formation of supramolecular block hetero-structures.