2025 Tripathy Endowed Memorial Lecture

E.W. “Bert” Meijer

Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600MB Eindhoven, Netherlands

• When: Thursday, March 27, 2025
  • 3 p.m.: Welcome Reception
  • 3:30 p.m.: Lecture
• Where: UMass Lowell, Alumni Hall Lounge
• Registration: Coming soon. Register by March 24, 2025.

Ever since the first polymers were discovered, scientists have debated their structures. Before Hermann Staudinger published the brilliant concept of macromolecules, it was generally assumed that the properties of polymers were based on the colloidal aggregation of small particles or molecules. Since 1920, polymers and macromolecules have been synonymous with each other; i.e. materials made by many covalent bonds connecting monomers in 2 or 3 dimensions. Although supramolecular interactions between macromolecular chains are evidently important, e.g. in nylons, it was unheard of proposing polymeric materials based on the interaction of small molecules. Breakthroughs in supramolecular chemistry have shown that polymer materials can be made by small molecules using strong directional secondary interactions; the field of supramolecular polymers emerged. In a sense, we have come full circle [1]. Many of the concepts of macromolecular polymers apply to supramolecular polymers, with only one important difference with fascinating consequences: the dynamic nature of the bonds that form polymer chains. This concept created the field of supramolecular materials, where novel unexpected properties are discovered. By controlling supramolecular interactions between molecular fragments, it became easier to design materials with unconventional responsive behavior and dynamic functionalities. In all cases, control over the position of the molecules in time and space is key to arrive at the required functionality. Different supramolecular approaches and selected external stimuli will be discussed in the lecture, with special emphasis on supramolecular materials with, on the one hand, highly ordered morphologies that will change their properties on the action of light, pressure, temperature, or the addition of chemicals. On the other hand, applications in spin filtering, biomaterials and OLEDs will be shown, revealing how the work of the late Sukant Tripathy has inspired us.

1. T. Aida, E.W. Meijer, Supramolecular polymers - we've come full circle, Israel J. of Chem. 60, 33-47 (2020)

About E.W. “Bert” Meijer

E.W. “Bert” Meijer is Distinguished University Professor in the Molecular Sciences, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology, and co-director of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems. After receiving his PhD degree at the University of Groningen with Hans Wynberg, he worked for 10 years in industry (Philips and DSM). In 1991 he was appointed in Eindhoven, while in the meantime he has part-time positions at MPI-Mainz, UC Santa Barbara, and UNSW Sydney. Bert Meijer is a member of many editorial advisory boards, including Advanced Materials and is associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Bert Meijer has received several awards, including the Spinoza Award (2001), the ACS Award for Polymer Chemistry (2006), the AkzoNobel Science Award (2010), the Cope Scholar Award of the ACS (2012), the Prelog Medal (2014), the Nagoya Gold Medal (2017), the Chirality Medal (2018) the Hermann Staudinger Award (2022) and the Grand Prix in Paris (2024). In 2020 he is knighted by the king to be Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. He is an honorable member of several academies and societies, including the US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science, where he is appointed to Academy Professor in 2014.