Quentin Michaudel

Educational Background

While polymers have long permeated most aspects of modern life—from commodity plastics to high-tech coatings and microelectronics—we have only just begun to scratch the surface of their potential. Conjugated polymers, for example, represent a class of exciting materials due to their intriguing electronic and optical properties that may enable the production of unique sensors, solar cells, and energy storage systems. If these desirable characteristics are to be harnessed, however, the ability to access constructs with complex molecular compositions and three-dimensional architectures must first be achieved. Our group aims to exploit classic organic reactions to control the monomer content and spatial assembly of macromolecules. Three different areas of research are actively explored:
1. the design of sequence-controlled polymerizations to afford conjugated polymers with defined monomer sequences;
2. the scalable synthesis of twisted/distorted conductive materials, including graphene nanoribbons, by employing "bottom-up" approaches; and
3. the invention of a traceless click process to rapidly synthesize and functionalize small molecules or polymers.
Through monomer, catalyst, and polymer preparation, students will receive extensive training in the fields of synthetic organic chemistry and polymer synthesis and characterization.

Michaudel, Q.; Chauviré, T.; Kottisch, V.; Supej, M. J.; Stawiasz, K. J; Shen, L.; Zipfel, W.R.; Abruña, H. D.; Freed, J. H.; Fors, B. P. Mechanistic Insight into the Photocontrolled Cationic Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 15530–15538.
Michaudel, Q.; Kottisch, V.; Fors, B. Cationic Polymerization: From Photoinitiation to Photocontrol, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 9670–9679.
Kottisch, V.; Michaudel, Q.; Fors, B. Cationic Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers Controlled by Visible Light, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 15535–15538.
Michaudel, Q.; Journot, G.; Regueiro-Ren, A.; Goswami, A.; Guo, Z.; Tully, T. P.; Zou, L.; Ramabhadran, R. O.; Houk, K. N.; Baran, P. S. Improving Physical Properties via C–H Oxidation: Chemical and Enzymatic Approaches, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 12091–12096.
Michaudel, Q.; Thevenet, D.; Baran, P. S. Intermolecular Ritter-Type C–H Amination of Unactivated sp3 Carbons, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2547–2550.