Sumerlin Research Group
     Department of Chemistry, Southern Methodist University
       3215 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75275-0314
 
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The Sumerlin Research Group investigates well-defined polymeric materials with selected functionality, composition, and molecular architecture.  Our particular focus is on polymers that are water-soluble and stimuli-responsive. Such "smart" polymers have the ability to self-assemble or dissociate in solution in response to a change in their surroundings. Potential target applications include controlled and targeted drug delivery, surface modification, and the synthesis of self-healing materials. Our interests are at the interface of bio-, organic, and polymer chemistry, with particular focus on fusing the fields to prepare materials with synergistic properties.

Additional information on our research endeavors can be found here.
 

Research Highlight
Roy and Jennifer's paper concerning the preparation triply-responsive block copolymers was recently published in Chemical Communications. A boronic acid-containing homopolymer was prepared by RAFT and subsequently used to synthesize block copolymers with N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM).  The resulting block copolymers formed both micelles and reversed micelles in response to three different stimuli (i.e., sugar concentration, pH, and temperature). The paper was also highlighted on the back cover of the journal.

Roy, Cambre, Sumerlin "Triply-responsive boronic acid block copolymers: Solution self-assembly induced by changes in temperature, pH, or sugar concentration" Chemical Communications 2009, 2106-2108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/B900374F

Department of Chemistry
Southern Methodist University
3215 Daniel Avenue
PO Box 750314
Dallas, TX 75275-0314

PH: (214) 768-8802
FX: (214) 768-4089
Email: -bsumerlin@smu.edu-

News & Presentations
 Previous Items
11/6/09 Brent was named to the Editorial Advisory Board for the new RSC journal Polymer Chemistry.
11/3/09 Roy and Jennifer's review entitled "Future Perspectives and Recent Advances in Stimuli Responsive Materials" is now available online in Progress in Polymer Science.
10/30/09 Brent presented a seminar in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western.
10/27/09 Brent delivered a plenary lecture at the International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi.
10/23/09 Brent presented a seminar in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UT Arlington.
10/23/09 Brent presented a seminar in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UT Arlington.
10/15/09 Brent presented a seminar in the Department of Chemistry (Organic seminar) at UT Austin.
09/29/09 Roy and Aman's article entitled "Rapid Block Copolymer Synthesis by Microwave-Assisted RAFT Polymerization" is now available online in Macromolecules.
08/26/09 Brent has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
08/19/09 Brent presented at the National Meeting of the ACS in Washington, DC.
08/01/09 Congratulations to Ming, Dey, and Gondi for their paper in the J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. being among the hottest polymer science articles from Wiley and Wiley-VCH journals.
07/09/09 Welcome to Florance Fishman, the newest member of the group, who joins us as a visiting researcher.
07/06/09 Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Vogt! Drew became the first member of the group (and the first member of the SMU Dept of Chemistry) to successfully defend his PhD dissertation. Drew's next stop is Adelaide, Australia, where he will begin a postdoc position at Flinders University.
06/15/09 Welcome back to Mitu, who rejoins us as a high school summer researcher.
06/03/09 Brent presented an invited lecture at EUPOC2009 in Gargnano, Italy.
05/29/09 Congratulations to Dey, Gondi, and Roy for their manuscript entitled "Boronic Acid Terminated Polymers: Synthesis by RAFT and Subsequent Dynamic Covalent Self-Assembly" being published in Macromolecules.
05/21/09 Brent was recognized as an Emerging Investigator by the RSC journal Soft Matter.
05/18/09 Welcome to Howard He, the newest member of the group, who joins us as an undergraduate researcher.
05/02/09 Ming, Hongmei, Jennifer, and Aman all presented at the ACS Meeting in Miniature at the University of North Texas. A special congratulations goes to Jennifer for her receiving Honorable Mention for Best Oral Presentation.
04/24/09 Brent will present a seminar at LSU.
04/21/09 Congratulations to Sara for winning the Ms. SMU Body Building Championship!
04/17/09 Roy and Jennifer's paper titled "Triply-responsive boronic acid block copolymers: Solution self-assembly induced by changes in temperature, pH, or sugar concentration" is now available online in Chemical Communications. This publication has also been selected as an RSC Project Prospect article and will be featured as a back cover advert image.
04/02/09 Brent presented a seminar at Trinity University in San Antonio.
04/02/09 Congratulations to Young for being awarded a RISE Fellowship that will allow him to conduct research in polymer chemistry in Germany this summer at the University of Duisburg-Essen!
03/22/09 Brent presented two lectures at the ACS National Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.
03/04/09 An interview with Brent by the Royal Society of Chemistry was made available on the ChemComm website.
02/22/09 Brent presented at the Collegium da Vinci of Southern Methodist University.
02/18/09 Brent presented at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
02/16/09 Brent presented at the "Materials of the Future-Science of Today" IUPAC conference in Melbourne, Australia.
02/05/09 Brent presented at the Zing Polymer Chemistry conference in Cancun, Mexico.
02/02/09 We welcome the newest member of our group: Aman Ullah joins us as a visiting PhD student from the University of Genova, Italy.
01/26/09 We welcome the newest member of our extended research group family! Jennifer gave birth to a healthy little Ethan James.
01/15/09 Brent delivered a seminar at Oklahoma State University.
 

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