BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ZContent.net//ZapCalLib 1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Building and Breaking Molecular Ladders to Develop Functional Mate rials LOCATION:Chemistry A101 TZID:America/Denver DTSTART:20192001T000000 UID:2026-04-04-16-01-53@natsci.colostate.edu DTSTAMP:20260404T160153 Description:About the Seminar:\n\nOur interest in utilizing and incorporati ng strained rings in ladder-shaped molecular structures led to the develop ment of unusual organic materials. We developed Catalytic Arene-Norbornene AnnuLation (CANAL) to synthesize rigid ladder polymers from readily avail able norbornenes and aryl bromides. Efficient CANAL polymerization produce d rigid ladder polymers with molecular weights up to 1 MDa\, contorted con formations\, and various functionalities. These ladder polymers exhibited high microporosity (pore width <\; 1 nm) and surprisingly high thermal s tability up to 400 °C without detectable Tg. Membranes from these polymer s were fabricated for gas separation and understanding gas transport in gl assy polymers.\n\nIn the quest for synthetic materials that transduce mech anical stimulation to multifaceted signals in response to force\, we devel oped a unique family of insulating polyladderenes\, which rapidly unzip un der force into semiconducting polymers. The force-induced unzipping of mac romolecular ladders opens new avenues for smart materials that transform t heir intrinsic properties drastically under stress and mechanistic underst anding of mechanotransduction in polymers.\n\n \;\n\nAbout the Speaker :\n\nYan Xia received his undergraduate degree from Peking University (\\' 02) and MSc from McMaster University (\\'05). He then obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Caltech in 2010\, working on cyclic and bottlebrush polymer s under the guidance of Profs. Robert Grubbs and Julie Kornfield. Followin g his PhD\, he worked as a senior chemist at Dow Chemical for one and a ha lf years and then a postdoc associate with Prof. Brad Olsen at MIT Chemica l Engineering. He joined the chemistry faculty at Stanford in the summer o f 2013. His research interest lies in the design\, synthesis\, and manipul ation of organic materials and polymers\, driven by new synthetic capabili ty\, rational molecular design\, and curiosity. He is a recipient of Terma n Fellowship\, ARO Young Investigator Award\, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award \, NSF CAREER Award\, Thieme Chemistry Journals Award\, and Cottrell Scho lar Award. 4:00 pm END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR