Projects

Final report of the SFB TRR 102: A virtual issue dedicated to our Collaborative Research Center SFB TRR 102 “Polymers under multiple constraints: restricted and controlled molecular order and mobility” featured in Macromolecular Journals.

Summary of the research program

The rich versatility and the variable properties and functions of macromolecules are based on the one hand on a large variety of different monomers but on the other hand on the fact that polymers are able to self-assemble in organized structures, encoded in the chemical sequence of the polymer chains. In simple cases of self-assembly, the only constraint is the chain connectivity, leading to the existence of largely universal properties independent of the specific chemistry. But there are many important open and challenging problems in polymer science which are characterized by strong correlations between local structure and global conformation of the chain. In the CRC TRR 102 we investigate such processes of structure formation and self-assembly of chain molecules, for which the formation of molecular structures and the molecular dynamics are affected in addition to connectivity by constraints, such as specific internal interactions, external forces, geometrical confinement, crowding or topological restrictions.

Two prominent examples for such processes and central topics of the CRC are crystallization in the area of synthetic polymers and the formation of amyloids in the area of biopolymers. In both cases larger scale structures form, driven by the formation of local molecular order and constrained by the connectivity of the chains. The resulting structures are thus only partially ordered and of nanoscopic size in one or several directions. Both processes have universal features, but different from crystallization, amyloid formation is connected to specific interaction. In the CRC we studied these and other related processes of structure formation and the properties of the resulting structures with the aim to work out and understand the fundamental, underlying physical principles. To achieve this we combined expertise from chemistry, experimental and theoretical physics, and biophysics using a large variety of experimental techniques and theoretical approaches based on simulations on different scales and levels of complexity.

Projects

A01 Effects of topological constraints in polymer melts on crystallization and structure formation

Thurn-Albrecht(MLU)/
Saalwächter(MLU)

2011-2023
A02 Statistical mechanical description of polymer crystallization: theory and simulation

Stepanow(MLU)/
Paul(MLU)

2011-2015
A03 Crystallization and cooperativity in dynamic supramolecular polymers Binder(MLU) 2011-2023
A05 Constrained side chain dynamics
in semi-crystalline
polymers with comb-like architecture
Beiner(MLU) 2011-2015
A06 NMR Investigations of the Self-Organization and Dynamics of Amyloid Protein Fibrils Huster(UL) 2011-2023
A07 Intra- and intermolecular structure formation in the presence of specific interactions Paul(MLU) 2011-2023
A08 Organization and interactions of eye-lens crystallins: native states and cataract formation Saalwächter(MLU)/
Balbach(MLU)
2011-2023
A09 Structure formation and aggregation of solvated peptides and polymers in the presence of ions Sebastiani(MLU) 2015-2023
A10 Dynamic and Structural Properties of Amyloid Forming and Intrinsically Disordered Polypeptide Chains Kiefhaber(MLU) 2015-2019
A12 Assembly of PTH/polymer hybridmolecules Balbach(MLU)/
Binder(MLU)
2019-2023
B01 Aggregation and Self-Assembly of Amyloid Systems and Functionalized Peptides near Interfaces – Towards Molecular Mechanisms and Smart Materials Abel(IOM) 2011-2023
B02 Structure and local properties of polymers in contact with ideal surfaces

Widdra(MLU)/ Sebastiani(MLU)

2011-2023
B03 Substrate-induced molecular order and nucleation in polymer thin films Thurn-Albrecht(MLU) 2011-2023
B04 Nanopatterns of Macromolecules Janke(UL) 2011-2023
B05 Structural levels of organization in spider silk – a combined mechanical and IR spectroscopic study Kremer(MLU) 2011-2019

B07

Semicrystalline Homopolymers and Block Copolymers at the Air/Water Interface and in Langmuir-Blodgett Films on Solid Supports Kreßler(MLU) 2011-2023
B08 Broadband dielectric spectroscopy to study molecular dynamics in nanometer thin layers of blockcopolymers. Kremer(MLU) 2011-2015
B08 Broadband dielectric and IR spectroscopy to study molecular dynamics and order in nanometer domains of endfixed polymers. Kremer(MLU) 2015-2019
B08 Refined Infrared Spectroscopy to Study Molecular Orientation and Order in Heterogeneous Polymer Systems Kremer(MLU) 2019-2023
B09 Correlation between chain conformation, microstructure and mechanical behaviour of shear aligned weakly segregated block copolymers Weidisch(MLU) 2011-2015
B10 Interactions of single polymer chains and Amyloid fibrils in a thermophoretic trap Cichos(UL) 2011-2023
B11 Characterization of the self-assembly process of hydrophobins at interfaces and in solution Hinderberger(MLU) 2015-2019
B12 Mechanisms of early amyloid formation and the confining influence of macromolecular crowding Ott(MLU) 2015-2023
B13 Probing structural transitions of singlepolymer chains with mechanical stress Seidel(MLU) 2015-2019
B14 Structure formation in linear precision and comb-like polymers under external constraints: Influence of shear fields and interfaces Beiner(IMWS) 2015-2023
B15 Dynamics and association in individualized macromolecules Tress(UL) 2019-2023
B16 Crystallization of polymer chains under anisotropic confinement in liquid crystals Mendes Ferreira(MLU) 2019-2023
B17 Force-induced α-β transitions in coiled coil structures Blank(MPI) 2019-2023
Z01 Synthesis of Labeled and Unlabeled Peptides with Difficult Sequences in Large Scales Rothemund 2019-2023
iRTG Integrated Research Training Group: Polymers: random coils and beyond Saalwächter(MLU)