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Our latest paper was published in ACS Macro Letters! Congrats, Anna!

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. 

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Max Receives 2022 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award!

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.

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We wrote about some awesome research from the Moore group!

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.

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Max receives 2022 PMSE Young Investigator Award!

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.

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Max selected as an ORGN Academic Young Investigator!

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."

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The group receives a NSF CAREER Award!

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.

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Max receives 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship!

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.

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Our latest paper was published in Macromolecules! Congrats to Anna and Molly!

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!

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Our latest paper was published in JACS! Congrats to Brooke, May, and Xiaoran!

Out now in JACS, we provide our perspective on the development of mechanophores for molecular release and the future of this exciting research area. Congratulations to Brooke and coauthors May + Xiaoran for leading the effort! Check it out here.

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Welcome to new graduate students Debbie and Yan!

We are excited to welcome first year graduate students Yu-Ling (Debbie) Tseng and Yan Sun to the Robb group! Debbie recently earned a M.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University and Yan earned a B.S. in Chemistry from SUSTech (Shenzhen, China). Welcome aboard!

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Our latest paper was published in Chemical Communications! Congrats to May and Xiaoran!

Congratulations to May and Xiaoran on their latest publication in ChemComm! We report a readily synthesized mechanophore enabling the efficient mechanically triggered release of phenol and arylamine molecular payloads. Read more about it here.

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The Robb group welcomes Dr. Peng Liu!

A warm welcome to our newest postdoc, Dr. Peng Liu!  Peng earned his PhD in 2020 from the University of Fribourg working with Prof. Andreas Kilbinger.  He joins us after a brief stay as a postdoc with Profs. Nico Bruns, Chris Weder, and Michael Mayer where he got a head start honing his polymer mechanochemistry skills.  Welcome to Caltech, Peng!

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Our latest paper was published in Chemical Science! Way to go, Ross!

Our latest publication appears in Chemical Science! We demonstrate a new highly modular and synthetically accessible mechanophore platform that enables mechanically gated photoswitching in solution and in solid polymeric materials. Congrats, Ross! Check it out here.

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Our latest paper was published in ACS Central Science! Congrats to Xiaoran, May, and Corey!

Check out our latest research on mechanically triggered release published today in ACS Central Science!  We develop key structure–activity relationships for 2-furylcarbinol derivatives that enable the mechanically triggered release of functionally diverse molecular cargo. Congratulations to Xiaoran, May, and Corey! Link to the paper here.

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Our latest paper was published in the Journal of Polymer Science! Congrats to Skylar and Molly!

Congratulations to Skylar and Molly on their paper published today in the Journal of Polymer Science! We demonstrate the impact of isomerism on the reactivity and properties of naphthopyran mechanophores. Hats off to Skylar on her first paper and in her first year to boot! Check it out here.

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Jolly awarded the 2020 Renuka D. Sharma Prize!

Congratulations to Jolly on receiving the 2020 Renuka D. Sharma Prize recognizing outstanding performance during a student's freshman year at Caltech! We are proud of you, Jolly!

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Our latest paper was accepted in JACS! Congrats, Molly!

Congratulations to Molly on her communication just accepted in JACS! Molly discovered a unique mechanochemical reaction of a 2H-naphthopyran mechanophore that generates a persistent merocyanine dye. Check it out here.

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Brooke Receives the RSC Student Prize Award!

Brooke received the RSC Student Prize Award for her presentation at the spring ACS national meeting in the Fundamentals of Polymer Mechanics symposium! Congratulations, Brooke!

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Molly Presents in Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium!

Molly was invited to present her research in the Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research symposium at the spring ACS meeting! She was also one of four recipients of an additional recognition from Wiley!  Congratulations, Molly!

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The Robb Group Says Farewell to Dr. Xiaoran Hu

We said farewell to the longest serving member of the Robb group, Dr. Xiaoran Hu. Good luck in your next adventure at Cornell University!