Supramolecular Polymer Polymorphism: Spontaneous Helix-Helicoid Transition through Dislocation of Hydrogen-Bonded π-Rosettes. (2023)
Journal Article
Otsuka, C., Takahashi, S., Isobe, A., Saito, T., Aizawa, T., Tsuchida, R., …Hollamby, M. J. (2023). Supramolecular Polymer Polymorphism: Spontaneous Helix-Helicoid Transition through Dislocation of Hydrogen-Bonded π-Rosettes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145(41), 22563-22576. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c07556

Polymorphism, a phenomenon whereby disparate self-assembled products can be formed from identical molecules, has incited interest in the field of supramolecular polymers. Conventionally, the monomers that constitute supramolecular polymers are engine... Read More about Supramolecular Polymer Polymorphism: Spontaneous Helix-Helicoid Transition through Dislocation of Hydrogen-Bonded π-Rosettes..

Fine-tuning of the size of supramolecular nanotoroids suppresses the subsequent catenation of nano-[2]catenane (2023)
Journal Article
Itabashi, H., Datta, S., Tsukuda, R., Hollamby, M. J., & Yagai, S. (2023). Fine-tuning of the size of supramolecular nanotoroids suppresses the subsequent catenation of nano-[2]catenane. Chemical Science, 14(12), 3270 - 3276. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SC07063D

A judicious combination of ring-closing supramolecular polymerization and secondary nucleation can hierarchically organize a diphenylnaphthalene barbiturate monomer bearing a 3,4,5-tri(dodecyloxy)benzyloxy unit into self-assembled nano-polycatenanes... Read More about Fine-tuning of the size of supramolecular nanotoroids suppresses the subsequent catenation of nano-[2]catenane.

In Situ and Ex Situ X-ray Diffraction and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Investigations of the Sol-Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C. (2022)
Journal Article
Chambers, M., Hunter, R., Hollamby, M., Pauw, B., Smith, A., Snow, T., …Schnepp, Z. (2022). In Situ and Ex Situ X-ray Diffraction and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Investigations of the Sol-Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C. Inorganic Chemistry, 61(18), 6742-6749. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c03442

Iron nitride (Fe3N) and iron carbide (Fe3C) nanoparticles can be prepared via sol-gel synthesis. While sol-gel methods are simple, it can be difficult to control the crystalline composition, i.e., to achieve a Rietveld-pure product. In a previous in... Read More about In Situ and Ex Situ X-ray Diffraction and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Investigations of the Sol-Gel Synthesis of Fe3N and Fe3C..

Diarylethene-Powered Light-Induced Folding of Supramolecular Polymers. (2021)
Journal Article
Fukushima, T., Tamaki, K., Isobe, A., Hirose, T., Shimizu, N., Takagi, H., …Yagai, S. (2021). Diarylethene-Powered Light-Induced Folding of Supramolecular Polymers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(15), 5845 - 5854. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c00592

Helical folding of randomly coiled linear polymers is an essential organization process not only for biological polypeptides but also for synthetic functional polymers. Realization of this dynamic process in supramolecular polymers (SPs) is, however,... Read More about Diarylethene-Powered Light-Induced Folding of Supramolecular Polymers..

Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks (2020)
Journal Article
Datta, S., Kato, Y., Higashiharaguchi, S., Aratsu, K., Isobe, A., Saito, T., …Yagai, S. (2020). Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks. Nature, 583, 400 - 405. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2445-z

Mechanical interlocking of molecules (catenation) is a nontrivial challenge in modern synthetic chemistry and materials science1,2. One strategy to achieve catenation is the design of pre-annular molecules that are capable of both efficient cyclizati... Read More about Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks.

Supramolecular copolymerization driven by integrative self-sorting of hydrogen-bonded rosettes. (2020)
Journal Article
Aratsu, K., Takeya, R., Pauw, B., Hollamby, M., Kitamoto, Y., Shimizu, N., …Yagai, S. (2020). Supramolecular copolymerization driven by integrative self-sorting of hydrogen-bonded rosettes. Nature communications, 11, Article 1623. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15422-6

Molecular recognition to preorganize noncovalently polymerizable supramolecular complexes is a characteristic process of natural supramolecular polymers, and such recognition processes allow for dynamic self-alteration, yielding complex polymer syste... Read More about Supramolecular copolymerization driven by integrative self-sorting of hydrogen-bonded rosettes..

Assessing the Practical Skills of Undergraduates: The Evolution of a Station-Based Practical Exam (2020)
Journal Article
Hancock, L. M., & Hollamby, M. (2020). Assessing the Practical Skills of Undergraduates: The Evolution of a Station-Based Practical Exam. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(4), 972 - 979. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00733

Laboratory education is a defining feature of chemistry degree courses, with one of the fundamental aims being acquiring competency in a range of chemistry-specific practical skills, yet there are still limited reports of direct assessment of these s... Read More about Assessing the Practical Skills of Undergraduates: The Evolution of a Station-Based Practical Exam.

Developing Scientific Reporting Skills of Early Undergraduate Chemistry Students (2019)
Book Chapter
Capel, N. J., Hancock, L. M., Haxton, K. J., Hollamby, M. J., Jones, R. H., Plana, D., & Mcgarvey, D. J. (2019). Developing Scientific Reporting Skills of Early Undergraduate Chemistry Students. In Teaching Chemistry in Higher Education: A Festschrift in Honour of Professor Tina Overton (333 - 333 (348)). Creathach Press

Our aim is to initiate the development of selected generic skills of early undergraduate chemistry students by focussing on scientific reporting skills. To achieve this, we have developed an approach that draws upon chemistry journal articles as para... Read More about Developing Scientific Reporting Skills of Early Undergraduate Chemistry Students.

Nuclear magnetic resonance and small-angle X-ray scattering studies of mixed sodium dodecyl sulfate and N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide aqueous systems performed at low temperatures (2018)
Journal Article
Summerton, E., Hollamby, M., Duff, C., Thompson, E., Snow, T., Smith, A., …Britton, M. (2018). Nuclear magnetic resonance and small-angle X-ray scattering studies of mixed sodium dodecyl sulfate and N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide aqueous systems performed at low temperatures. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 535(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.09.053

Surfactant crystallisation is important in many applications in the food, consumer product and medical sectors. However, these processes are not well understood. In particular, surfactant crystallisation can be detrimental to the stability of deterge... Read More about Nuclear magnetic resonance and small-angle X-ray scattering studies of mixed sodium dodecyl sulfate and N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide aqueous systems performed at low temperatures.

Self-folding of supramolecular polymers into bioinspired topology. (2018)
Journal Article
Prabhu, D., Aratsu, K., Kitamoto, Y., Ouchi, H., Ohba, T., Hollamby, M., …Yagai, S. (2018). Self-folding of supramolecular polymers into bioinspired topology. Science Advances, 4(9), Article eaat8466. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat8466

Folding one-dimensional polymer chains into well-defined topologies represents an important organization process for proteins, but replicating this process for supramolecular polymers remains a challenging task. We report supramolecular polymers that... Read More about Self-folding of supramolecular polymers into bioinspired topology..

The impact of N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide (DDAO) concentration on the crystallisation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) systems and the resulting changes to viscosity, crystal structure, shape and the kinetics of crystal growth (2018)
Journal Article
Summerton, E., Hollamby, M., Zimbitas, G., Snow, T., Smith, A., Sommertune, J., …Bakalis, S. (2018). The impact of N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide (DDAO) concentration on the crystallisation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) systems and the resulting changes to viscosity, crystal structure, shape and the kinetics of crystal growth. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 527, Article 260-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.05.058

Hypothesis
At low temperatures stability issues arise in commercial detergent products when surfactant crystallisation occurs, a process which is not currently well-understood. An understanding of the phase transition can be obtained using a simple... Read More about The impact of N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide (DDAO) concentration on the crystallisation of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) systems and the resulting changes to viscosity, crystal structure, shape and the kinetics of crystal growth.

The aggregation of an alkyl-C60 derivative as a function of concentration, temperature and solvent type. (2017)
Journal Article
Hollamby, M., Smith, C., Britton, M., Danks, A., Schnepp, Z., Grillo, I., …Nakanishi, T. (2017). The aggregation of an alkyl-C60 derivative as a function of concentration, temperature and solvent type. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20(5), 3373-3380. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CP06348B

Contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering (CV-SANS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of diffusion and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) are used to gain insight into the aggregation of a... Read More about The aggregation of an alkyl-C60 derivative as a function of concentration, temperature and solvent type..

Light-induced unfolding and refolding of supramolecular polymer nanofibres. (2017)
Journal Article
Adhikari, B., Yamada, Y., Yamauchi, M., Wakita, K., Lin, X., Aratsu, K., …Shimizu, N. (2017). Light-induced unfolding and refolding of supramolecular polymer nanofibres. Nature communications, 8, Article 15254. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15254

Unlike classical covalent polymers, one-dimensionally (1D) elongated supramolecular polymers (SPs) can be encoded with high degrees of internal order by the cooperative aggregation of molecular subunits, which endows these SPs with extraordinary prop... Read More about Light-induced unfolding and refolding of supramolecular polymer nanofibres..

Mechanistic insights into the formation of porous carbons from gelatin (2017)
Journal Article
Danks, A., Hollamby, M., Hammouda, B., Fletcher, D., Johnston-Banks, F., Rogers, S., & Schnepp, Z. (2017). Mechanistic insights into the formation of porous carbons from gelatin. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 5(23), 11644-11651. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA10517C

Porous carbons are important for many energy applications. The biopolymer gelatin provides a simple and sustainable route to functional carbon foams with multimodal porosity. In this paper, small angle neutron scattering is applied alongside other te... Read More about Mechanistic insights into the formation of porous carbons from gelatin.

Simultaneous SAXS and SANS Analysis for the Detection of Toroidal Supramolecular Polymers Composed of Noncovalent Supermacrocycles in Solution. (2016)
Journal Article
Hollamby, M., Aratsu, K., Pauw, B., Rogers, S., Smith, A., Yamauchi, M., …Yagai, S. (2016). Simultaneous SAXS and SANS Analysis for the Detection of Toroidal Supramolecular Polymers Composed of Noncovalent Supermacrocycles in Solution. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 128(34), 9890 - 9893. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201603370

Molecular self-assembly primarily occurs in solution. To better understand this process, techniques capable of probing the solvated state are consequently required. Small-angle scattering (SAS) has a proven ability to detect and characterize solution... Read More about Simultaneous SAXS and SANS Analysis for the Detection of Toroidal Supramolecular Polymers Composed of Noncovalent Supermacrocycles in Solution..

Flourescent liquid pyrene derivative-in-water mircoemulsions (2016)
Journal Article
Hollamby, M., Danks, A., Schnepp, Z., Rogers, S., Hart, S., & Nakanishi, T. (2016). Flourescent liquid pyrene derivative-in-water mircoemulsions. Chemical Communications, 52(46), 7344-7347. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6CC01517D

A fluorescent liquid pyrene derivative with a high fluorescence quantum yield (65%) in the bulk state is reported. With this as the sole oil phase, stable luminescent oil-in-water microemulsions have been prepared. Increasing the loading of liquid py... Read More about Flourescent liquid pyrene derivative-in-water mircoemulsions.

Graphene-philic surfactants for nanocomposites in latex technology (2016)
Journal Article
Mohamed, A., Ardyani, T., Abu Bakar, S., Brown, P., Hollamby, M., Sagisaka, M., & Eastoe, J. (2016). Graphene-philic surfactants for nanocomposites in latex technology. Advances in colloid and interface science, 230, 54-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2016.01.003

Graphene is the newest member of the carbon family, and has revolutionized materials science especially in the field of polymer nanocomposites. However, agglomeration and uniform dispersion remains an Achilles' heel (even an elephant in the room), ha... Read More about Graphene-philic surfactants for nanocomposites in latex technology.

Directed assembly of optoelectronically active alkyl-p-conjugated molecules by adding n-alkanes or p-conjugated species (2014)
Journal Article
Hollamby, M., Karny, M., Bomans, P., Sommerdijk, N., Saeki, A., Seki, S., …Nakanishi, T. (2014). Directed assembly of optoelectronically active alkyl-p-conjugated molecules by adding n-alkanes or p-conjugated species. Nature Chemistry, 6, 690 - 696. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1977

Supramolecular assembly can yield ordered structures by taking advantage of the cumulative effect of multiple non-covalent interactions between adjacent molecules. The thermodynamic origin of many self-assembled structures in water is the balance bet... Read More about Directed assembly of optoelectronically active alkyl-p-conjugated molecules by adding n-alkanes or p-conjugated species.

A family of oxide-carbide-carbon and oxide-nitride-carbon nanocomposites. (2013)
Journal Article
Schnepp, Z., Hollamby, M. J., Tanaka, M., Matsushita, Y., Xu, Y., & Sakka, Y. (2014). A family of oxide-carbide-carbon and oxide-nitride-carbon nanocomposites. Chemical Communications, 50(40), 5364 - 5366. https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC47480A

This paper describes a powerful and versatile approach that combines the benefits of sol-gel processing with controlled phase separation to yield oxide-carbide-carbon or oxide-nitride-carbon nanocomposites.

Doped-carbon electrocatalysts with trimodal porosity from a homogeneous polypeptide gel (2013)
Journal Article
Schnepp, Z., Zhang, Y., Hollamby, M., Pauw, B., Tanaka, M., Matsushita, Y., & Sakka, Y. (2013). Doped-carbon electrocatalysts with trimodal porosity from a homogeneous polypeptide gel. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 1(43), 13576 -13581. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta12996a

One of the biggest challenges for materials science is to design facile routes to structurally complex materials, which is particularly important for global applications such as fuel cells. Doped nanostructured carbons are targeted as noble metal-fre... Read More about Doped-carbon electrocatalysts with trimodal porosity from a homogeneous polypeptide gel.