Congratulations to Skylar and Nathan on their latest publication appearing in JACS! We introduce a new class of fluorenyl naphthopyran mechanophores and highlight the unique role of torsion in their mechanochemical reactivity. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we demonstrate that variation in the pulling geometry on the fluorene subunit results in significant differences in mechanochemical activity due to pronounced changes in how force is coupled to distinct torsional motions and their coherence with the nuclear motions that accompany the force-free ring-opening reaction. Notably, subtle changes in polymer attachment position lead to a >50% difference in the rate of mechanochemical activation. Read more about it here.

Congratulations to Peng, Yu-Ling (Debbie), and coauthors on their latest publication appearing in JACS! In collaboration with the Shabat group at Tel Aviv University, we report a novel platform for mechanically triggered chemiluminescence that leverages a unique synergy between our masked 2-furylcarbinol mechanophores and powerful 1,2-dioxetane chemiluminophores. This highly modular system represents the first new mechanophore chemistry for achieving mechanically triggered light generation in over a decade and opens up new possibilities for optoelectronics, sensing, bioimaging, optogenetics, and many other applications. Read more about it here.

Max was granted tenure today and promoted to Professor of Chemistry at Caltech! I am beyond grateful to the amazing students, colleagues, mentors, family, and friends that helped me get here. Thank you!

Congrats to Tian (May) for successfully defending her PhD thesis! PhD #7 for the Robb group! May will soon be moving to the east coast to start a postdoc at Janelia working with Dr. Luke Lavis. Good luck, May! 

Congratulations to Tian (May) and coauthors Liam and Peng on their latest publication appearing in JACS! We introduce a new nonscissile mechanophore for mechanically triggered small molecule release enabling the preparation of multimechanophore polymers capable of releasing hundreds of small-molecule payloads. Read more about it here.

Congratulations to Yu-Ling (Debbie) and coauthor Tian (May) on their latest publication appearing in Chemical Science! We leverage the unique fragmentation pathway of an aryloxy-substituted 2-furylcarbinol derivative to design a mechanophore incorporating a self-immolative linker that is capable of dual payload release. Read more about it here. 

We had a patent issued today! "Mechanical regulation of photoswitching." U.S. Patent 11,834,442 issued December 5, 2023. Congrats to former postdoc and coinventor Xiaoran Hu on this achievement! 

We are excited to welcome first year graduate students Analiese Wiedenbeck, Nathan Ballinger, and Liam Ordner to the Robb group! Analiese earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Colorado State University; Nathan earned a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Washington; and Liam earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Geogia Tech. Welcome aboard!

Max joined the Editorial Advisory Board for RSC Mechanochemistry. The launch of this new journal captures the excitement and potential of this rapidly growing discipline and affords a unique opportunity to showcase the diversity, creativity, and impact of the field.

Congratulations to Molly, Yuxing, and colleagues on our new paper appearing today in PNAS! In collaboration with the Shapiro group, we demonstrate that biocompatible focused ultrasound can be used to activate mechanophores for triggered molecular release under physiological conditions. The trick? Protein nanostructures called gas vesicles that function as acousto-mechanical transducers. We are excited about the possibilities this work enables for translating polymer mechanochemistry for biomedical applications. Congrats to all! Read the paper here. Also check out the Caltech news story here, and a story in Physics World here.

Congratulations to Yan and coauthors Molly, Skylar, and Ross on their latest publication appearing in Chemical Science! We demonstrate that a polarizing dialkylamine substituent engenders a linear naphthopyran motif with anomalous photochromic and mechanochromic behavior. Read more about it here. 

Max received the 2023 National Fresenius Award! Check out the announcement in C&E News, the Phi Lambda Upsilon website, and the list of prior awardees. A huge thank you to the members of the Robb group and our supporters for this recognition.

Congratulations to Molly and coauthors Ross and Anna on their latest publication appearing in Chemical Science! We provide a comprehensive perspective on naphthopyran switches and their emergent mechanochemical reactivity. Read it here.

The Robb group was awarded a grant from the Army Research Office to support our research on mechanically gated reactions for force-adaptive polymeric materials! ARO has been a prominent supporter of polymer mechanochemistry research and we are excited to get involved. 

The Robb group was awarded an R35 (MIRA) grant from the NIH (NIGMS) to support our research on mechanically triggered molecular release! We are thrilled for this opportunity to continue advancing our research in this area and for new directions and challenges. Keep your eyes peeled for exciting developments in this space!

Congratulations to Jolly Patro on receiving the Frederick W. Hinrichs, Jr. Memorial Award recognizing a Caltech senior who made the greatest contribution to the student body and whose character, leadership, and responsibility have been outstanding. A truly well deserved recognition! We are so proud of you. 

Molly was selected to receive the 2023 McCoy Award, which is presented annually to recognize the most outstanding achievements in research by a CCE graduate student. Congratulations, Molly!

Congratulations to Anna for successfully defending her PhD thesis! PhD #6 for the Robb group! This summer, Anna will be moving north to the San Jose area to begin a job as a technical consultant at Exponent. Good luck, Anna! 

Congratulations to Skylar and coauthors Molly and May on their latest publication appearing today in Polymer Chemistry! We describe a new 2H-bis-naphthopyran mechanophore that generates an unusually stable bis-merocyanine dye with force. Kudos to Skylar for some serious analytical depth. Check it out here.

Congratulations to Ross for successfully defending his thesis today! Ross will move to the east coast to start a new position at Impact Nano near Boston, MA. Good luck, Ross! We will miss you. 

Congratulations to Corey and Brooke for successfully defending their theses on April 21st and April 24th, respectively! Corey will start at Dow in Performance Silicones and Brooke will head to Northrop Grumman in the Future Technical Leaders program. Good luck to you both! 

Congratulations to Molly for successfully defending her thesis today! This summer Molly will head to UC Berkeley to start her postdoc as a Miller Research Fellow. We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to Jolly for winning the Second Place Oral Presentation Award in the POLY Undergraduate Research Symposium at the spring 2023 ACS meeting! 

Congratulations to Quan for successfully defending his thesis today! Quan was the last PhD student in the Grubbs group and joined the Robb group after Bob's passing in 2021. Quan will return to China to start a job at Huawei. Good luck! 

Congratulations to Molly and coauthors Anna and Skylar on their latest publication appearing today in ACS Macro Letters! We validate an initial rates method that enables the accurate and rapid determination of rate constants for ultrasound-induced mechanochemical transformations. Check it out here.

Max received the 2023 Innovator Award from the Rose Hills Foundation! We are very grateful for this recognition and funding that will support our research on naphthopyran mechanochemistry. 

Our group's first patent was issued today! "Method for controlled release using mechanical force." U.S. Patent 11,584,752, issued February 21, 2023. Congrats to coinventors May Zeng and Xiaoran Hu on this achievement! 

Congratulations to Anna and Wendy on their latest publication appearing in Nature Chemistry! We developed a mechanophore platform enabling the mechanically gated formation of DASA dyes/photoswitches, and used this chemistry to establish a novel method of mechanochemical multicolor lithography. Read the paper here, and check out the news articles from Caltech (here) and Nature Chemistry (here).

Molly McFadden was awarded the prestigious Kathryn A. Day Miller Research Fellowship at UC Berkeley! After graduating from Caltech, she will conduct postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. John Hartwig. Congratulations Molly! 

Max was named a 2022 ACS Polymers Au Rising Star! Check out the announcement, and read our original contribution to this special issue by Stella, Ross, and Anna here.

Congrats to Molly and coauthors Skylar and Yan on their latest publication appearing in JACS! We show that mechanical force enables an anomolous dual ring-opening reaction of naphthodipyran to generate an unusual dimerocyanine dye with near-IR absorption. Read the paper here, and check out a Research Highlight in Nature Synthesis here. We even wrote a little poem about it:

Naphthodipyran.

Two paths diverge, one old of light and one of force anew.

Though light can open only one ring, force pries open two!

Congrats to Stella and coauthors Ross and Anna on their latest publication in ACS Polymers Au! We highlight the significant difference in mechanochemical reactivity between furan-maleimide and anthracene-maleimide mechanophores, despite similar reactivity predicted by CoGEF calculations. Read more about it here! 

Congratulations to Anna who was awarded the 2022-23 Barbara J. Burger Graduate Fellowship! 

Congratulations to Corey and Xiaoran on their latest publication appearing in ACS Macro Letters! We describe a new mechanophore design that enables the effiecient release of cargo molecules in aprotic environments. Read more here.

Congratulations to Jolly Patro on being named a 2022 John Stauffer SURF Fellow at Caltech! 

Anna's recent paper was featured on the front cover of the June issue of ACS Macro Letters! Check it out here.

We are excited to welcome Liam Ordner this summer as an Amgen Scholar! Liam joins us from Georgia Tech where he has been working in the Gutekunst Group. 

Anna's paper examining how mechanophore activity influences the selectivity of mechanochemical chain scission was published today in ACS Macro Lett! Check it out here. 

Max was named a 2022 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar! Many thanks to the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation for this incredible honor and to the extraordinarily talented members of the Robb group that made it possible! Link here.

Ross and Max were excited for the opportunity to highlight recent research from the Moore group on mechanically triggered release of carbon monoxide with turn-on aggregation-induced emission. Check out the highlight here, which was published in the journal Aggregate.

Max was selected as a 2022 PMSE Young Investigator!  He will present a lecture during the fall ACS meeting in the PMSE Young Investigator Symposium, which is a forum to highlight the professional accomplishments of early-career investigators who are emerging as leaders in the field of polymer science and engineering. Link here.

Max was selected to speak in the Academic Young Investigators Syposium held by the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society at the upcoming fall ACS meeting in Chicago. The symposium will feature pre-tenure professors and will "highlight the vitality of research in the field of organic chemistry."

Quite the exciting day!  We also received the official award notice for a NSF CAREER award (CHE-2145791) that will support our research on naphthopyran mechanochemistry as well as a number of educational initiatives to broaden participation and enable training of undergraduate and graduate students. Props to students Molly and Skylar who contributed significantly to the proposal! Link here.

Max was selected as a 2022 Sloan Research Fellow! Many thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for this tremendous honor and to the hard work and creativity of the Robb group for making it possible! Link here.

Congratulations to Anna and Molly for their recent paper published in Macromolecules! We systematically investigated different methods of characterizing activation rates for scissile mechanophores and provide insight into the role of molecular weight dispersity on ultrasound-induced mechanophore activation. Read more about it here!