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TOC Symposium: Molecular Self-Assembly

This TOC-symposium is entiteled ”Molecular Self-Assembly” a field that has been assigned by the journal ”Science” to be one of the 100 most important research areas for the future. It deals among other things how we can get inspiration from Nature to make new functional molecules by employing weak interactions to ”glue small” molecules together.

Organizing matter at a molecular level is true challenge for modern chemistry and was awarded with the 1987 Nobel price in chemistry (to Pedersen, Cram. and Lehn). For 150 years chemists have tried to assemble even more complex molecules by breaking and forming the strong covalent bond. In this way chemists have been able to construct molecular structures containing up to 1000 atoms. Yet, compared to Nature, the obtained complexity obtained in this way is limited. In contrast, Nature uses the weak non-covalent bond (such as hydrogen-bonds and coordination bonds) to generate complex large-size molecular structures. The non-covalent bonds hold together and organize molecules to very complicated structures resulting in for example cell membranes from fatty acids, tissues from cells and organism from tissue. Chemist have learnt from Nature how to do this self-assembling in the laboratory, however, on a much less advanced level. The goal is to obtain small simple molecules that in function can mimic biological systems such as enzymes and cell membrane channels. In addition, the development within the field of molecular self-assembly has resulted in new functional materials for example in the field of light-harvesting, electric conductivity, molecular engine and smart materials.  The research area is highly interdisciplinary: in the chemist’s brain and in computers the molecules that are going to be self-assembled are designed. In the laboratory, the molecules are made, and physical chemistry and advanced spectroscopy are employed o study the mechanism for the interaction between the molecules and to characterize the structure of the so-obtained assemblies.

Report

Program (PDF)

Flyer (PDF)

Questions, please contact Kenneth Wärnmark.

The symposium takes place in lecture hall A at Kemicentrum in Lund.

Late registration or cancellation send an e-mail to Bodil Eliasson.
Please note that you have to register in advance and that ”no show” will be invoiced SEK 500.

Posters: bring your poster and all dimensions are ok, send the title to  Bodil Eliasson

The registration opens at 08:30 and the symposium closes at 17:00.

Molecular Behavior in Small Spaces
Julius Rebek, The Scripps Research Inistitute, San Diego, USA

Toward a General Strategy for Tubular Polymers using Small Hydrogen-Bonding Blocks
Edvinas Orentas, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cucurbit[n]uril Molecular Containers: From Basic Science to Biomedical Applications
Lyle Isaacs, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

Integration of Molecular Motors in Non-Equilibrium Polymer Networks
Nicolas Giuseppone, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Unorthodox Interactions in Functional Systems
Stefan Matile, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

Coordination Self-Assembly: From the Origins to the Latest Advances
Makoto Fujita, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Registration

Late registration or cancellation send an e-mail to Bodil Eliasson.

Exhibitors