General topics of interest are:

Transport (Ion Transporters, Photosystems)

Exotic Interactions (Anion-π, Halogen Bonds)

Sensing

Current projects focus on:

Synthesis

Photosystems

Cellular Uptake

Catalysis

Fluorescent Probes

The research interests of the Matile group are at the interface of synthetic organic, biological and supramolecular materials chemistry.  The general objective is to create function from scratch, using methods such as multistep organic synthesis, surface-initiated polymerization, dynamic covalent chemistry, self-assembly, self-sorting, self-repair, templated synthesis and stack exchange.  Design strategies often apply lessons from nature and aim to integrate less recognized, exotic interactions (anion-π, halogen bonds).  Many functions of interest are centered around transport, i.e., transport of electrons and holes in synthetic photosystems, anions and cations in synthetic transporters in lipid bilayer membranes, larger molecules in sensing applications and cellular uptake.  Other functions of interest include catalysis or fluorescent probes.

Students working on these projects can gain significant expertise in multistep organic synthesis.  Moreover, they can learn various methods for functional analysis (photocurrents, transport and sensing in membranes, catalysis), optoelectronic characterization (cyclic voltammetry, fluorescence, absorption, circular dichroism spectroscopy), collaborative biological characterization (biochemical methods, cell culture, confocal microscopy, flow cytometry), and surface analysis (atomic force microscopy, microcontact printing).  They are also encouraged to benefit from fruitful in-house collaborations (computational chemistry, ultrafast photophysics, surface analytics, cellular uptake, GUV imaging).

Funding