Plunkett Research Group Southern Illinois University



News:



May 21, 2020 - The group has received a new NSF grant and ACS PRF grant to begin work this summer. More information on this will be posted later.



Nov 06, 2019 - Yachu's manuscript titled "1,1'-Biaceanthrylene and 2,2'-Biaceanthrylene: Models for Linking Larger Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons via Five-Membered Rings" is published in J. Org. Chem. for the special issue on "Functional Organic Materials"













Sept 11, 2019 - Kyle's paper on "A Simple and Practicel Method for Incorporating Augmented Reality into the Classroom and Laboratory" is published in J. Chem. Educ. June 29, 2019 - Back to back parties thrown for GK. Wow, special guy!June 26, 2019 - Gajanan successfully defends his Ph.D. to become the 4th Ph.D. (and beer namesake!) from the group. Congrats G.K.!Apr 9, 2019 - Yachu, Gajanan, and Waseem present their research at the Student Creative Activities and Research Forum. Waseem one First Place for his poster! This matches his First Place poster presentation award on 10/15/2018 for the Material Research Society (MTC) Poster presentation session.Apr 8, 2019 - Gajanan went to the ACS meeting in Orlando and presented his work on both cyclopentannulated tetracenes as well as our efforts in designing new anolytes for redox flow batteries.Nov 28, 2018 - Our synthesis of isomerically pure dibromo-anthracenedithiophenes and subsequent cyclopentannulation is published in Chemical Communications Sept 11, 2018 - Our new work on CP-tetracenes was published as a an invited Cluster Article for "Synthesis of Materials" in Synlett Sept 08, 2018 - Gajanan (right) traveled to Susan Odom's research laboratory at the University of Kentucky to run experiments with Harsha (left) on some of our molecules for possible anolytes in flow batteries.Sept 07, 2018 - A nice write up about the Chlamydia work with Derek Fisher's group. Not sure why the bottom right photo didn't make it in! :)Jul 30, 2018 - Our first publication in collaboration with Derek Fisher's group from Microbiology at SIU is published in J. Bacteriol. . We are working on inhibitors for Chlamydia.Jun 21, 2018 - We are happy to start an NIH funded grant with Derek Fisher (Microbiology) to make inhibitors for Chlamydia.Jun 12, 2018 - Just now saw that we made it into the June 3rd issue of C&En News! Hah! Excerpt below.Jun 09, 2018 - Kyle presented at the 2nd Carbon-Rich Molecules to Carbon-Based Materials Fusion Conference in Nassau, Bahamas. It was tough to stay there at the hotel, I must say.Jun 08, 2018 - Gajanan and several other from SIU went up to UIUC to take a crash course in Material Characterization at the Materials Research Laboratory.May 14, 2018 - Che-Hsiung (Gene) Lee (M.S. 2014) stopped by Carbondale to visit! We tried to reproduce the bowling jump from July 11, 2013 (below) but it was a blurry fail...May 11, 2018 - Yachu wins a Schmulbach Teaching Award for 2018!May 03, 2018 - G.K. received the Schmulbach Teaching Award at SIU awards day (for 2017)!Apr 27, 2018 - Paul will be working as an intern at CycloPure this summer in Skokie, IL. They use cyclodextrin chemistry for adsorbent materials.Apr 3, 2018 - Amanda, Paul, and GK help out for the Science Olympiad that was hosted at SIU.Mar 28, 2018 - Kyle presented the group's work at Boston University and Tufts University.Mar 23, 2018 - ACS New Orleans was pretty wild. These were the extra curricular activities besides the great science being presented.Oct 25, 2017 - Kyle visited Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Tianjin to give research talks and meet with collaborators/friends. Very special to meet up with former group members Bingxin Yuan and Xinju Zhu in Zhengzhou! Unfortunately, my 2.5 semesters of Chinese classes barely made an impact in any understanding!Aug 21, 2017 - SIU and Carbondale hosted the Great American Eclipse as we were in the center of the eclipse path with the longest eclipse time. Lots of cool events. We packed the football stadium and had the suspense of a huge game as the clouds tried to hide the awesome event. There was eruption when the eclipse shined through! If you missed it, a second eclipse crossing Carbondale will be in 2024.Jul 27, 2017 - Kyle attended ISNA 17 in Stony Brook. Nice to catch up with some Moore group and Nuckolls group alumni!Apr 22, 2017 - We hosted the 3rd biannual Cal Meyers Organic Chemistry Symposium with several great speakers including PIs and graduate students. Also hosted the March for Science in Carbondale. It was a bit wet that day!Apr 13, 2017 - Our work titled "Conjugated Ladder Polymers by a Cyclopentannulation Polymerization" is published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. . Congratulations Sambasiva and Matt.Apr 3, 2017 - Amanda presents her research at the SIU CURCA poster session.Mar 24, 2017 - Samba successfully defends his Ph.D. Congratulations Dr. Bheemireddy!Jan 06, 2017 - Our collaborative work with the Vanden Bout group on hydrogen-bonding capable polychromophores is published in Polym. Chem. Dec 10, 2016 - Ain Uddin and Waseem Hussain join the group as first year graduate students.Nov 20, 2016 - Tori Stierwalt and Amanda Waltner join the group as undergraduate researchers. Amanda, who spent time in the laboratory during high school summer breaks, also is being supported by the Saluki Research Rookies program.Sept 23, 2016 - Sam presented to the department his Gower Award seminar. Bob and Beth Gower were in attendance for the occasion. The department appreciates their continued support of our students and our department.Sept 14, 2016 - Kyle presented the group's research at the International Symposium on the Synthesis and Application of Curved Organic Pi-Molecules & Materials (Curo-Pi).Sept 07, 2016 - Our recent work on Pentaleno[1,2-a:4,5']diacenaphthylenes is published in J. Org. Chem. Aug 22, 2015 - Sam presented at the Philadelphia ACS meeting.Aug 02, 2016 - Sam was selected for the Midwest Graduate Research Award Symposium to be held in Manhattan, KS on Oct 28, 2016.Aug 01, 2016 - Sam presented our work at the ACS-DOC Graduate Research Symposium at Bryn Mawr College.Jul 19, 2016 - The best part of my 'job' is right here! Getting to meet up with colleagues and friends in foreign lands. Meet up with my former labmate and newly appointed Assistant Professor Young Suk Park (UNIST, Korea) at an awesome (local!) BBQ restaurant in Seoul (Adam Whalley of course also pictured). Then meet up with former Plunkett group member Xinju Zhu (and his colleagues) who holds position at Zhengzhou University. Was able to see some amazing sites near Zhengzhou including the Shaolin Temple (early kung fu), Shaolin Zen Music Ritual, and Longmen Grottoes.Jul 18, 2016 - Kyle presented the group's research at ISCSM 2016 in Seoul, Korea and then made stops at Zhengzhou University and Tianjin University in China.Jun 17, 2016 - Bingxin defended here dissertation this week and we threw a graduation bash. "Bingxin FTW Koelsch" homebrew was served in honor of the occasion! Congrats Bingxin!br> May 09, 2016 - Our recent collaborative work with the Vanden Bout group is published in Macromolecules . Congrats Xinju and Beiyue.May 06, 2016 - The manuscript we submitted for the J. Mater. Chem. C Emerging Investigators 2016: Novel design strategies for new functional materials is now online here . The profiles, which can be found here , shows that I may have gone overboard in relation to the others in trying to "be creative both with the biography and the picture as we are trying to highlight the dynamic nature of the new generation of materials chemists."Apr 29, 2016 - Sam receives the Gower Fellowship for Summer 2016.Apr 21, 2016 - Former Plunkett group member Xinju Zhu publishes first manuscript in his new position at Zhengzhou University.Apr 07, 2016 - Sam's picture made it to the front of the Daily Egyptian for Energy Day. That glovebox sure is photogenic! That is like 4 pictures in SIU media over past couple years.Apr 06, 2016 - Bingxin and Sam gave several tours of the laboratory for Energy Day 2016 at SIU.Apr 05, 2016 - Kyle presented the group's research at University of Houston and UT-Dallas this week. Thanks Ognjen and Ron for hosting!Mar 24, 2016 - Sam created an awesome personal webpage. Go see it here Feb 27, 2016 - It would help if he was a better typer....Feb 19, 2016 - Our recently published work in Macromolecules detailing the cyclopentannulation of poly(arylene ethynylene)s was highlighted in Synfacts Feb 17, 2016 - Sam is awarded a SIU Doctoral Graduate Fellowship! The prestigous award will pay his stipend and tuition next year.Feb 16, 2016 - Kyle presented the group's work at Purdue University (Thanks Jianguo Mei for the invite).Dec 22, 2015 - A behind the scene look at how a graduation glamour shot might go down.Dec 18, 2015 - Kyle presented two talks at Pacifichem 2015 in Hawaii. As it was the Star Wars opening weekend, Kyle used this video as his outline slide.Dec 15, 2015 - Our groups' work on cyclopentannulation of poly(arylene ethynylene)s to construct donor-acceptor polymers was published in Macromolecules Dec 04, 2015 - Our recent manuscript was selected for the Editorial Board's Top Picks in Polymer Chemistry Dec 01, 2015 - Celebrated several achievements in the lab at Scratch Brewery with the BEAN GAME!!! Several new papers came out, Matt getting an internship at NREL, and Bingxin getting some nice OFET data. Ron Smaldone joined us after his departmental seminar.Nov 19, 2015 - Sam and Peter's paper is published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Nov 17, 2015 - Xinju and Bingxin's paper is published in Tetrahedron Lett. Nov 02, 2015 - Sam's work on donor-acceptor copolymer based on dicyclopenta[cd,jk]pyrene acceptors in published in Polymer Chemistry Sept 02, 2015 - Sam's work on contorted aromatics via a his newly developed Palladium-Catalyzed Cyclopentannulation strategy is published in J. Mater. Chem. C. Aug 31, 2015 - I just saw that Kevin was featured on the front of the undergraduate creative activities and research forum 2015 abstract flyer.July 03, 2015 - Amanda, who will be a senior at Bloomington University High School, participated in a second one-week research stay in our lab.May 29, 2015 - Kyle, Sam and Xinju show up on the main siu.edu webpage!May 24, 2015 - Kyle recieved early promotion and tenure to Associate Professor. Link to SIU news. Yea!May 16, 2015 - Xinju graduates! Couple pictures outside graduation and at Scratch brewery with Bingxin and Sam.May 04, 2015 - Kyle presented the groups' research at the University of Oregon (thanks Mike) and University of Kentucky (thanks Susan) over the past couple weeks.Apr 18, 2015 - Sam presented his work at the Meyers Symposium on SIU's campus along side several graduate students and prominent faculty members from midwest universities. Sam related his current work to the keynote speaker, Professor Barry Trost, by referring back to his first independent publication (of >900!) on synthetic routes to pyracylene.Apr 17, 2015 - Sam receives a Schmulbach Teaching Award!Apr 11, 2015 - We threw a graduation party for several graduating students includeing Xinju. We had Xinjü Brü (homebrew) on tap. Thanks to Ras (and others) for providing a feast!Apr 13, 2015 - Sam was selected as a recipient of a Graduate and Professional Student Council Research Award Apr 08, 2015 - We shall now call him Dr. Xinju Zhu. Congrats Xinju!Mar 16, 2015 - Kyle travelled to Chicago with Eric Chitambar (Physics) to represent SIU at an award ceremony for Senator Dick Durbin (Senate Minority Whip). SIU news article Mar 15, 2015 - Kyle presented talks at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin last week. Bonus was a trip back to the Dixie Chicken!Dec 18, 2014 - I just realized that Bingxin's picture (bottom right) is on the cover of the SIU campus directory! Hah! I guess people like using photos with gloveboxes in them...Dec 17, 2014 - A couple of the shots for the SIU photoshoot that weren't used. Thanks to Russell Bailey for the images.Dec 05, 2014 - A nice writeup on our group's work was printed in the SIU news. Nov 21, 2014 - Xinju presented his research to the chemistry department during the Gower Fellowship symposium.Nov 05, 2014 - Bingxin's contributions to the Goodson and Chekmenev groups work on a water soluble catalyst for hyperpolarization for NMR signal amplification is now published in J. Phys. Chem. B. Oct 31, 2014 - So, the group decided to dress up as 'Kyle' for Halloween.... Who knew a baseball hat was so defining. The long sleeve under a short sleeve is also awesome. :)Oct 30, 2014 - Kyle presented talks at Northern Illinois University and Southeast Missouri State University in the past couple week.Sep 23, 2014 - Kyle presented an invited talk at the Fusion Conference "From Carbon-Rich Molecules to Carbon-Based Materials" in Morocco.Aug 05, 2014 - So, this is what Sam is doing in Columbus, OH at the Scifinder function instead of being in lab on a Tuesday. Nice! Also, Sam's selection was highlighted in The Southern newspaper.Jul 30, 2014 - Sam is selected for the 2014 SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry Program Jul 16, 2014 - Xinju's regioregularity controlled MEH-PPV paper is published in JOC. Find the paper here Jun 03, 2014 - Kyle receives one of six highly competitive university-wide seed grants in collaboration with Ian Suni.May 30, 2014 - Kyle presented the group's research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Thanks to good friend Dongqing Wu for hosting me.May 28, 2014 - Kyle presented at the International Symposium on Advances in Computational Materials for Catalysis and Photovoltaics at Tianjin University. Thanks to Professor Lichang Wang for the invitation and wonderful experience.May 23, 2014 - Kyle presented the group's research at Peking University in Beijing, China. It was great to catch up with old friends Professors Dahui Zhao and Xuefeng Guo!Apr 24, 2014 - A write-up for Kyle's SIU Early Career Faculty Excellence Award can be found here . Kyle received the award from Chancellor Rita Cheng at the faculty excellence awards ceremony.Apr 08, 2014 - Kyle was selected for the University-Level Early Career Faculty Excellence Award ! Thanks to all former and current group members for their work that helped contributed to this award.Mar 31, 2014 - Kyle presented the group's research at the University of Colorado, Boulder.Mar 28, 2014 - Xinju receives the Gower Award that will fund his research over the summer.Mar 25, 2014 - Xinju receives an SIU Doctoral Fellowship that pays for full tuition and research assistant stipend!Mar 17, 2014 - Kyle, Sam, Bingxin, and Xinju go to Dallas ACS to present work.Mar 03, 2014 - Kyle presented the group's research at the University of Missouri.Feb 01, 2014 - It's official! Kyle receives an NSF CAREER award! Thank you to the National Science Foundation and the american taxpayers for supporting our research.Jan 28, 2014 - Our collaborative work with Vjollca Konjufca in the Department of Microbiology titled "The Uptake of Soluble and Particulate Antigens by Epithelial Cells in the Mouse Small Intestine" is published in PLOS ONE.Dec 07, 2013 - Kyle received notification that he was chosen as one of the "Thieme Chemistry Journal Awardees" for 2014. Thank you to the editorial boards of Synlett, Synthesis, and Synfacts for this nice honor.Dec 06, 2013 - Kyle presented the group's research at St. Louis University.Nov 26, 2013 - Received word that our collaborative project with Professor Lichang Wang will be funded by the Illinois Clean Coal Institute (ICCI) . I guess that is a congrats to us! :)Nov 25, 2013 - Jessica successfully defended her Master's thesis. Congratulations! The group went out for pizza, but boss man forgot the camera!Oct 04, 2013 - Kyle presented the group's research at the University of Louisville.Sept 12, 2013 - Kyle presented at the Indianapolis ACS meeting in tribute to Professor Jeffrey S. Moore. Three days of talks by former Mooregroup members. It was a great experience.Aug 26, 2013 - Our collaborator David Vanden Bout put together a nice ACS LiveSlides presentation of our recent manuscript "Chromophore-Controlled Self-Assembly of Highly Ordered Nanostructures". You can watch the presentation here July 19, 2013 - Our manuscript in collaboration with the Reichman (Columbia) and Vanden Bout (UT-Austin) groups titled "Chromophore Controlled Self-Assembly of Highly-Ordered Polymer Nanostructures" is published inJuly 11, 2013 - Group bowling and party. Bingxin rarely found it to the championship round of Spoons. :)Jun 26, 2013 - Kyle attended the Physical Organic Gordon Research Conference in Holderness, NH.Jun 03, 2013 - Joshua Rathod is joining our lab for a summer REU stay.May 20, 2013 - Bingxin Yuan and Peter Rose join the group as graduate students.May 08, 2013 - Yue-Huan (Kevin) recieves the Saluki Scholars Research Opporunity award for research next year.Apr 06, 2013 - We hosted the first Cal Meyers Memorial Organic Chemistry Symposium at SIU. Gene gave a talk and our group (minus Gene) was able to have a photo-op with Nobel Laureate Ei-ichi Negishi.Apr 04, 2013 - Gene receiving his Schmulbach Teaching Award.Mar 26, 2013 - Kyle presents at Think Science - Saluki Research Ambassadors. As an interactive demo we used a photopatterning to make colorful designs (inset).Mar 08, 2013 - Kyle's invited SYNPACTS review "What About the Five-Membered Ring? Cyclopenta-fused Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons as a Building Block for Functional Materials" is published in Synlett.Mar 05, 2013 - Our manuscript "Orthogonal Functionalization of Cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylenes" , is published in Organic Letters.Mar 04, 2013 - Congratulations Gene for receiving the Schmulbach Teaching Award for outstanding work as a teaching assistant.Feb 26, 2013 - In celebration of Gene'spaper being accepted, the group goes out for ice cream and to see Django Unchained. Five dudes at an ice cream shop - prehaps a bit weird - but good!Jan 31, 2013 - Our recent work on donor-acceptor copolymers based on CP-PAHs is highlighted inJan 30, 2013 - Bridgette Ludwig and Jack Pertile join the group as undergraduate researchers.Jan 10, 2013 - Yue-Huan (Kevin) joins the Saluki Research Rookie program.Jan 10, 2013 - Sambasivareddy (Sam) Bheemireddy joins the group as a graduate student.Oct 29, 2012 - Our manuscript "Electron Acceptors Based on an All-Carbon Donor-Acceptor Copolymer" , is published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. If you want to get crazy and read it auf deutsch, you can find that version here Sept 14, 2012 - Our manuscript "Electron Acceptors Based on Functionalizable Cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylenes and Dicyclopenta[de,mn]tetracenes" is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.Aug 27, 2012 - Kyle presented at the ACS in Philadelphia. Nice chance to catch up with some former Moore Group members Aaron Esser-Kahn (UC Irvine), Chris Bielawski (UT Austin), and Susan Odom (U. Kentucky). Congrats to Chris for being awarded the Inaugural Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award for researchers under 40. Jim's Steaks and a Yuengling, I guess that does a decent job of summing up the local cuisine.July 23, 2012 - Probe station and Keithley 4200 finally set up. Ready to make some OFETs!July 21, 2012 - Starting to see the end of the tunnel on the lab renovations! Finally!July 20, 2012 - Gene and Xinju gave posters and Kyle presented at the ICSM 2012 conference in Atlanta, GA. It was a nice roadtrip and great to talk about our science.June 30, 2012 - Kyle presents at the IUPAC 2012 conference in Blacksburg, VA.June 12, 2012 - Our manuscript "Well-Defined Alternating Copolymers of Oligo(phenylenevinylene)s and Flexible Chains" is published in Macromolecules.June 6, 2012 - Group outing to Pinch Penny. Gene with the "green dragon".June 3, 2012 - Our manuscript titled "Well-Defined Alternating Copolymers of Oligo(phenylenevinylene)s and Flexible Chains" is accepted for publication in Macromolecules. Thanks Xinju and Matt for the experimental work!December 30, 2011 - "Unmasking Bulk Exciton Traps and Interchain Electronic Interactions with Single Conjugated Polymer Aggregates" is published in ACS Nano. This work was apart of postdoctoral work in collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and the University of Texas at Austin and part of a Phase I CCI grant. Thanks to Matt!.December 01, 2011 - Harrison is accepted into the Saluki Research Rookies program.October 19, 2011 - Harrison Oakley joins the lab as an undergraduate researcher.October 18, 2011 - Chemistry Alumni Banquet - Xinju, Kyle and GeneAugust 16, 2011 - Picture update from the ISNA-14 conference in Eugene, OR. Great turnout by former members of Jeff Moore's research group (left) and great weather and scenery (right).June 17, 2011 - "Controlling Chain Conformation in Conjugated Polymers Using Defect Inclusion Strategies" is published in JACS. This work was apart of postdoctoral work in collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and the University of Texas at Austin and part of a Phase I CCI grant.June 1, 2011 - Jameelah Muhammad from Western Illinois University joins the group as a REU for the summer.May 17, 2011 - Che-Hsiung Lee (Gene) joins the group.March 01, 2011 - Post dated. Nice tip here. Let the safety people check the safety shower. Otherwise, you might have a hard time shutting it off and get drenched in the process. Not too much water got away from the trashcan though. On a positive note, received the new glovebox and solvent system!Jan. 13, 2011 - Jordan Wood and Nicholas Klauba join the group.Jan. 4, 2011 - Nothing like the disappointment of waiting three months to receive broken (1 of 2) rotovaps and no pumps to go with them! Good times...Dec. 11, 2010 - We had a bit of work unboxing everything, but everything is beginning to find their homes.Dec. 10, 2010 - FINALLY! The large order from Fisher has began to trickle in. Huge lesson learned. Split your order into two POs instead of waiting three months for signatures to come through for a huge order! Wasn't aware of this and it was the most frustrating experience ever. On the the plus side it was fun to see the lab full with boxes. There are Jessica and Xinju putting some order to the chaos.Nov. 16, 2010 - Xinju Zhu joins the group.Nov. 15, 2010 - Ian Brown joins the group.Nov. 5, 2010 - First proposal sent out. Kaiser decided to hang out under the desk during the celebration.Oct. 17, 2010 - Who let this guy hang pictures? Is he an aggie?Oct. 14, 2010 - "Bending Contorted Hexabenzocoronene into a Bowl" is published in Chemical Science. This work was carried out in Professor Colin Nuckolls' lab at Columbia University.Oct. 5, 2010 - Who doesn't need an espresso machine? And then someone to mooch it!Oct. 4, 2010 - Unpacking the office is a multiple-month ordeal. Printing the first test was a late night affair. Cynthia practiced a possible student scenario!Oct. 1, 2010 - First Plunkett Group reaction. A simple bromination. Look how clean that hood is!Sept. 29, 2010 - Lonely chemicals and Jessica unpacking boxes.Aug. 17, 2010 - Jessica Jellison joins the group.Aug. 16, 2010 - The Plunkett group established at Southern Illinois University.