Jeffrey S. Moore

Research

Our research involves the synthesis and study of large organic molecules and the discovery of new polymeric materials and functions. Most projects relate to one of three areas: synthetic methods to construct structure-controlled macromolecules, self-healing polymers, or photoresponsive colloids. In general, our group uses the tools of synthetic and physical organic chemistry to address problems at the interface of chemistry and materials science.

Molecular Disks, Ladders, and Grids

State-of-the-art methods in nanofabrication are capable of creating structures and patterns with feature sizes below 10 nm. Given recent advances in the synthesis of shape-persistent molecular objects, it is now possible to imagine the placement of molecular functionality with atomic-scale precision over macroscopic dimensions. Our group is interested in developing efficient methods to prepare large, shape-persistent molecules that behave as rigid objects or nanoscale scaffolding. In addition to possible interest for nanoscale devices, these structures have potential applications in nanobiotechnology, nanofiltration membranes, 'smart-matrix' scaffolding for the construction of gradients to guide the migration of excitons and charges, and as anisotropic nanoparticles. During the next decade, we will establish methods to prepare disks, one-dimensional ladder structures, and two-dimensional grids up to 400 nm². Toward this goal, our group develops and employs dynamic covalent reactions such as alkene, alkyne or imine metathesis, supramolecular recognition, and sequence-specific oligomeric building blocks. This project will advance the frontiers of molecular science into size ranges and with levels of precision that have never before been achieved.

Self-Healing Polymers and Mechanochemistry

Structural polymers are susceptible to damage in the form of cracks, which often develop deep within a material where detection is difficult and repair is nearly impossible. To extend the lifetime of such materials, we have undertaken a project aimed at inventing polymers that repair themselves automatically. A key aspect to self-healing capability is the development of repair mechanisms that are activated by damage in the form of microcracks. Having demonstrated the concept based on ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), we are now looking to develop novel healing chemistries that can be produced on large-scale. We are interested in the development and testing of masked forms of reactive monomers that can be microencapsulated for extended lifetimes. Because the problem is multidisciplinary involving mechanics, chemistry, processing, and engineering, we work closely with our collaborators at the Beckman Institute.

For more information see: http://www.autonomic.uiuc.edu/

We are also developing new concepts for triggering molecular-level reinforcement in the vicinity of high stress concentration. Stress-induced reactions in polymers have long been studied but they have never been used for the purpose of repairing damage or triggering molecular reinforcement. The stress-induced reactions studied to date involve radical mechanisms resulting from homolytic bond rupture. Using extensional flow field generated by ultrasound, we have recently shown that mechanical forces can be used to site-specifically cleave a 4,4'-azobis-(4-cyanopentanoic acid) unit in the center of a polymer molecule.

Photoresponsive Colloids

In collaboration with researchers at the UIUC Materials Research Laboratory, a molecular toolkit will be developed for creating phototriggered and photoreversible colloidal building blocks with tunable electrostatic or hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions. Initial experiments have focused on spherical colloids whose surface functionalization is controlled via photocleavable, self-assembled monolayers. We will explore the interaction of modulated light with photo-responsive colloids and other systems to generate useful 3D structures or assemblies. New directions include exploring photo-induced shape changes to generate anisotropic colloidal building blocks.

Publications

Caruso, M.M., Blaiszik, B.J., White, S.R., Sottos, N.R., Moore, J.S., "Full Recovery of Fracture Toughness using a Non-Toxic Solvent-Based Self-Healing System" Advanced Functional Materials, 2008, 18, 1898-1904.

Zang, L., Che, Y., Moore,J.S., "One-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Planar & Conjugated Molecules: Adaptable Building Blocks for Organic Nano Devices" Accounts of Chemical Research, 2008, ASAP, 10.102.

Jiang,S., Schultz, M., Chen, Q., Moore, J.S., Granick, S., "Solvent-Free Synthesis of Janus Colloidal Particles" Langmuir, 2008, Accepted.

Cho, M.H., Weissman, H., Moore, J.S., "Synthetic Applications with Use of a Silica-Supported Alkyne
Metathesis Catalyst" Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2008, ASAP

Moore, J.S., Kraft, M.L., "Synchronized Self Assembly" Science, 2008, (320), 620-621

Wilson, G.O., Caruso, M.M., Reimer, N.T., White, S.R., Sottos, N.R., Moore, J.S., "Evaluation of Ruthenium Catalysts for Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization-based Self Healing Applications" Chemistry of Materials, 2008, 20, 3288-3297.

Smaldone, R.A., Moore, J.S., "Reactive sieving with foldamers: Inspiration from Nature and directions for the future" Chemistry-A European Journal, 2008, 14, (9), 2650-2657

Wilson, G.O., Moore, J.S., White, S.R., Sottos, N.R., Andersson, H.M., "Autonomic Healing of Epoxy Vinyl Esters via Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization" Advanced Functional Materials, 2008, (18), 44-52.

Smaldone, R.A., Moore, J.S., "Sequence Dependence of Reactivity in m-Foldamers"
Chemical Communications, 2008, (8), 1011-1013.

Caruso, M.M., Delafuente, D.A., Ho, V., Sottos, N.R., Moore, J.S., White, S.R.," Solvent-Promoted Self-Healing Materials" Macromolecules, 2007, (40), 8830-8832.

Hartley, C. S., Moore, J.S., "Programmed Dynamic Covalent Assembly of Unsymmetrical Macrocycles"
Journal of American Chemical Society, 2007, 129, (38), 11682-11683.

Potisek, S. L., Davis, D. A., Sottos, N. R., White, S. R., Moore, J. S., "Mechanophore-Linked Addition Polymers" Journal of American Chemical Society, 2007, 129,(45), 13808-13809.

 Toohey, K. S., Sottos, N. R., Lewis, J. A., Moore, J. S., White, S. R., "Self-healing Materials with Microvascular Networks" Nature Materials, 2007, (6), 581-585.

Hickenboth, C. R., Moore, J. S., White, S. R., Sottos, N. R., Baudry, J., Wilson, S. R. "Biasing Reaction Pathways with Mechanical Force" Nature, 2007, 446, 423-427.

Mack, N. H., Wackerly, J. W., Malyarchuk, V., Rogers, J. A., Moore, J. S. Nuzzo, R. G. "Optical Transduction of Chemical Forces" Nano Lett., 2007, 7(3), 733-737.

Prakash, S., Long, T. M., Selby, J. C., Moore, J. S., Shannon, M. A. "'Click' Modification of Silica Surfaces and Glass Microfluidic Channels" Anal. Chem., 2007, 79(4), 1661-1667.

Zhang, W., Moore, J. S. "Alkyne Metathesis: Catalysts and Synthetic Applications" Adv. Synth. Catal. 2007, 349, 93-120.

Mauldin, T. C., Rule, J. D., Sottos, N. R., White, S. R., Moore, J. S. "Self-healing Kinetics and the Stereoisomers of Dicyclopentadiene" J. Royal Soc. Interface, 2006 (accepted)

Cho, H-M, Weissman, H., Wilson, S. R., Moore, J. S. "A Mo(VI) Alkylidyne Complex with Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane Ligands: Homogeneous Analogue of a Silica-Supported Alkyne Metathesis Catalyst" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 14742-14743.

Wackerly, J. W., Moore, J. S. "Cooperative Self-Assembly of Oligo(m-phenyleneethynylenes) into Supramolecular Coordination Polymers" Macromolecules, 2006, 39(21), 7269-7276.

Moore, J. S. "Foldamers Based on Solvophobic Effects." In Foldamers: Structure, Properties, and Applications; Hecht, S., Huc, I., Eds; Wiley-VCH: Verlag, 2006.

"Shape-Persistent Macrocycles: Structures and Synthetic Approaches from Arylene and Ethynylene Building Blocks," W. Zhang, J.S. Moore, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2006, 45(27), 4416-4439.

Awards

• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2008
• UIUC Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• LAS Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• Alpha Epilon Delta Pre-Health Honors Society Professor of the Year Award
• Fellow, American association for the Advancement of Science
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
• ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award
• Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
• NSF Young Investigator Award

Highlights

1. Imitating Nature by Self-Healing Materials by Shelley Singh
   See the Economic Times article here
2. Self-Reparing Materials: A healing balm by Magnus Andersson
   http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10637606
3. This Year In Nature - Our March 2007 paper was selected by Nature's editors as one of their "favourites' from papers published in 2007.
4. U of I researchers named to SciAm 50 for 2007
   http://www.las.uiuc.edu/news/2008spring/08jan_sciam50.html
5. RSC's Chemistry World published its "Cutting Edge Chemistry in 2007". There you'll read, "Jeffrey Moore at Illinois showed that chemical catalysts are sometimes not needed at all, using ultrasound instead to selectively break a target bond, giving a product that had proved inaccessible using more conventional techniques."
   http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/December/18120702.asp
6. Nov. 2007 — Our 2006 article, "The Chain-Length Dependence Test", published in Accounts of Chemical Research is being featured on the ACS Publications website as a "Hot Paper" as defined by Thomson Scientific (ISI) Essential Science Indicators.
7. The Right Combination: Sottos, Moore, White Make Collaborations Productive and Fun
   http://www.beckman.uiuc.edu/news/synergy/sottosmoorewhite.html
8. Catalyst-free chemistry makes self-healing materials more practical
   http://www.news.uiuc.edu/NEWS/07/1127selfheal.html
9. Now, self-healing materials can mimic human skin, healing again and again
   http://www.news.uiuc.edu/NEWS/07/0611sottos.html
10. Nature: Mechanics meets chemistry in new ways to manipulate matter
    http://mrl.uiuc.edu/highlights/2007/20070319mooresottos.html
11. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/7134xia.html
    Making the paper: Jeffrey Moore
    A molecule that undergoes chemical reaction in response to stress.
12. Brute Force Breaks Bonds
    http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i13/8513notw4.html