Macromolecular Architectures

Prof. Dr. C. Barner-Kowollik
Current research in the Macroarc team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT - minor node) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT - main node) is situated at the interface of organic, polymer and biochemistry and focuses on a wide range of polymer-related research fields such as the synthesis of complex macromolecular architectures with highly-defined functionality and composition via advanced  polymerization protocols, synthesis via polymer conjugation techniques and macromolecular transformations at ambient temperature with a particular emphasis on light driven photochemical transformations, fundamental investigations into polymerization mechanisms and kinetics as well as high resolution imaging and characterization of macromolecular chain structures. Applications include high definition surface modification and nano-engineering for targeted cell attachment, sequence defined polymers, biomimetic materials ranging from adhesives to routes to synthetic proteins, surface and solution bonding/debonding on demand systems, supramolecular chemistry with polymer strands, polymer-based catalysis as well as advanced biosubstrate functionalization.