State-of-the-art methods in nanofabrication produce patterns with feature sizes below 10 nm. Given recent advances in the synthesis of shape-persistent molecular objects, it is now possible to place molecular functionality with atomic precision over macroscopic dimensions. Our group is developing methods to prepare large, shape-persistent molecules that function as rigid, nanoscale objects. These carbon-rich materials may find applications in nanofiltration membranes, organic electronics and optoelectronics, sensory materials, or building blocks for nanowire self-assembly. Our group develops and employs dynamic covalent reactions (e.g., alkene, alkyne, or imine metathesis) supramolecular polymerization, and repetitive, sequence-specific oligomer and dendrimer synthesis. This project will advance the frontiers of molecular science into size ranges and levels of precision that have never before been achieved. We see these advances as opening a general synthetic route to entire families of new graphene and other carbon-rich materials (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Schematic illustration of linked monolayer formation. (A) Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are synthesized on a substrate, then cross-linked to form linked monolayers. This approach is applied to the formation of 3D topologies (i), structured sheets (ii), and membranes (iii). The box above iii provides an idealized view of the chemical structure for a linked monomer network formed from monomer 3. (B) Chemical structures of monomers 1–3.