International context: Materials play an increasingly important role in ...

Proposed program
During this thesis, the main challenge will be to engineer and study a new class of pillararenes
based polymer materials capable of responding to multiple external stimuli in aqueous media.
Recently, due to their highly symmetrical, rigid, and electron-­‐‐rich cavity, Pillar[n]arenes (n = 5, 6,
7) has indeed emerged as powerful host systems for the fabrication of pseudorotaxane
architectures with electron-­‐‐deficient guests (viologens, ammonium derivatives). Hence, in this
thesis, polymeric building blocks (mainly prepared by Controlled Radical Polymerisation, CRP)
incorporating Pillar[n]arene or viologens/ammoniums units will be orthogonally held together
through pseudorotaxane linkages, thereby offering materials with reversible and switchable
properties. To clarify, the research programme developed in this thesis will be mainly focused on
the creation of i) new multistimuli responsive nanosized self-­‐‐assembled architectures (micelles,
nanotubes and polymersomes) having multiresponsiveness properties (on demand drug release).
and ii) smart surfaces from well-­‐‐defined end functionalized polymer building blocks.
Administrative details:
-­‐‐ Starting date: 10/ 2013
-­‐‐ Required profile: Master 2 in organic/polymer chemistry. The PhD student should be a
polymer chemist with good knowledge in organic chemistry.
-­‐‐ Application: Candidates are encouraged to send by e-mail a motivation letter and a CV
to Pr Patrice Woisel, UMET, Lille, Patrice.woisel@ensc-­‐‐lille.fr, +333 20 43 49 54.
-­‐‐ Amount: around € 1600 monthly net