Stephen L. Craig

Stephen L. Craig
Alma materDuke University (B.S.)
University of Cambridge (M.Phil.)
Stanford University (Ph.D)
Known forMechanochemistry
Polymer Chemistry
Physical Organic Chemistry
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsDuke University
Doctoral advisorJohn Brauman
Websitecraiglab.chem.duke.edu

Stephen L. Craig is the William T. Miller Professor of Chemistry at Duke University.[1] He is the director of the Center for Molecularly Optimized Networks, a NSF Center for Chemical Innovation.[2]

Career

Craig received his B.S. in chemistry from Duke University in 1991. The following year, he completed the M.Phil. in theoretical chemistry at University of Cambridge as a Churchill Scholar. He then began his studies in physical organic chemistry at Stanford University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1997 working with John Brauman.[3] Upon completion of his Ph.D., he spent two years as a research chemist at DuPont, and one year as a postdoctoral researcher with Julius Rebek at The Scripps Research Institute.[4] He was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Duke University in 2000, where he was later promoted to associate professor in 2007, and professor in 2012. The following year he was named the William T. Miller Professor of Chemistry, the position he currently holds. He was the chair of the chemistry department from 2012 to 2017.[5]

At Duke, his studies have focused on the mechanisms and reaction dynamics of chemical reactions coupled to mechanical forces (“covalent polymer mechanochemistry”), including single-molecule studies of associative exchange reactions[6] as well as mechanochemical pathways that violate orbital symmetry principles in the absence of force.[7][8] Chemical concepts that have emerged from these studies include “tension trapping” transition states and reactive intermediates,[9][10][11] covalent “stress relief”,[12] and “backbone lever arm effects”.[13] Materials concepts demonstrated by his group include stress-responsive polymers that strengthen in response to destructive mechanical forces[14] and chemomechanically active soft devices like soft robots and electroactive displays.[15][16] Work in his group in the area of supramolecular polymers led to the development of a “macromolecular analogue of the kinetic isotope effect”[17][18][19] that has been used to probe complex non-linear material properties[20][21][22] and material toughening through otherwise “mechanically invisible” interactions.[23]

Current research

Ongoing research in the Craig lab bridges physical organic and materials chemistry. Current topics of research include the design and synthesis of self-healing polymers and the use of contemporary mechanochemistry in new stress-responsive polymers, catalysis, and the study of reactive intermediates and transition states. These areas require an interdisciplinary and nontraditional mix of synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, single-molecule spectroscopy, supramolecular chemistry, and materials characterization.[24]

Major publications

(Publications listed below have been cited more than 200 times)[25]

  • Q Wang, GR Gossweiler, SL Craig, and X Zhao, "Cephalopod-inspired design of electro-mechano-chemically responsive elastomers for on-demand fluorescent patterning", Nat. Comm., 5, 1-9 (2014)
  • GR Gossweiler, GB Hewage, G Soriano, Q Wang, GW Welshofer, X Zhao, and SL Craig, "Mechanochemical activation of covalent bonds in polymers with full and repeatable macroscopic shape recovery", ACS Macro Lett., 3, 216-219 (2014)
  • AL Black Ramirez, ZS Kean, JA Orlicki, M Champhekar, SM Elsakr, WE Krause, and SL Craig, "Mechanochemical strengthening of a synthetic polymer in response to typically destructive shear forces", Nat. Chem., 5, 757-761 (2013)
  • AL Black, JM Lenhardt, and SL Craig, "From molecular mechanochemistry to stress-responsive materials", J. Mater. Chem., 21, 1655–1663 (2011)
  • JM Lenhardt, MT Ong, R Choe, CR Evenhuis, TJ Martinez, and SL Craig, "Trapping a diradical transition state by mechanochemical polymer extension", Science, 329, 1057–1060 (2010)
  • JM Lenhardt, AL Black, and SL Craig, "gem-Dichlorocyclopropanes as Abundant and Efficient Mechanophores in Polybutadiene Copolymers under Mechanical Stress", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 131, 10818-10819 (2009)
  • H Juwarker, JM Lenhardt, DM Pham, and SL Craig, "1,2,3‐Triazole CH⋅⋅⋅Cl− Contacts Guide Anion Binding and Concomitant Folding in 1,4‐Diaryl Triazole Oligomers", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 47, 3740–3743 (2008)
  • WC Yount, DM Loveless, and SL Craig, "Strong means slow: Dynamic contributions to the bulk mechanical properties of supramolecular networks", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 44, 2746–2748 (2005)
  • WC Yount, DM Loveless, and SL Craig, "Small-molecule dynamics and mechanisms underlying the macroscopic mechanical properties of coordinatively cross-linked polymer networks", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127, 14488–14496 (2005)
  • F Hof, SL Craig, C Nuckolls, and J Rebek, "Molecular encapsulation", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 41, 1488–1508 (2002)
  • ML Chabinyc, SL Craig, CK Regan, and JI Brauman, "Gas-phase ionic reactions: dynamics and mechanism of nucleophilic displacements", Science, 279, 1882–1886 (1998)

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ "Duke Chemistry". Duke University Chemistry. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  2. ^ "MONET Website". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Academic Family Tree – John Brauman". Academic Tree - Brauman. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Academic Family Tree – Julius Rebek". Academic Tree - Rebek. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Duke Scholars – Stephen L Craig". Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  6. ^ Kersey, Yount, Craig (2006). "Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy of Bimolecular Reactions: System Homology in the Mechanical Activation of Ligand Substitution Reactions". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128 (12): 3886–3887. doi:10.1021/ja058516b. PMID 16551077.
  7. ^ Wang, Kouznetsova, Niu, Ong, Klukovich, Rheingold, Martinez, Craig (2015). "Inducing and quantifying forbidden reactivity with single-molecule polymer mechanochemistry". Nat. Chem. 7 (4): 323–327. Bibcode:2015NatCh...7..323W. doi:10.1038/nchem.2185. OSTI 1184168. PMID 25803470.
  8. ^ Wang, Kouznetsova, Craig (2015). "Reactivity and Mechanism of a Mechanically Activated anti-Woodward–Hoffmann–DePuy Reaction". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137 (36): 11554–11557. doi:10.1021/jacs.5b06168. PMID 26335414.
  9. ^ Lenhardt, Ong, Choe, Evenhuis, Martinez, Craig (2010). "Trapping a Diradical Transition State by Mechanochemical Polymer Extension". Science. 329 (5995): 1057–1060. Bibcode:2010Sci...329.1057L. doi:10.1126/science.1193412. PMID 20798315. S2CID 13229660.
  10. ^ Lenhardt, Ogle, Ong, Choe, Martinez, Craig (2011). "Reactive Cross-Talk between Adjacent Tension-Trapped Transition States". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (10): 3222–3225. doi:10.1021/ja107645c. PMID 21341786.
  11. ^ Klukovich HM, Kean ZS, Black Ramirez AL, Lenhardt JM, Lin J, Hu X, Craig SL (2012). "Tension Trapping of Carbonyl Ylides Facilitated by a Change in Polymer Backbone". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (23): 9577–9580. doi:10.1021/ja302996n. PMID 22650366.
  12. ^ Wu, Lenhardt, Black, Akhremitchev, Craig (2010). "Molecular Stress Relief through a Force-Induced Irreversible Extension in Polymer Contour Length". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132 (45): 15936–15938. doi:10.1021/ja108429h. PMID 20977189.
  13. ^ Klukovich, Kouznetsova, Kean, Lenhardt, Craig (2013). "A backbone lever-arm effect enhances polymer mechanochemistry". Nat. Chem. 5 (2): 110–114. Bibcode:2013NatCh...5..110K. doi:10.1038/nchem.1540. PMID 23344431.
  14. ^ Black Ramirez AL, Kean ZS, Orlicki JA, Champhekar M, Elsakr SM, Krause WE, Craig SL (2013). "Mechanochemical strengthening of a synthetic polymer in response to typically destructive shear forces". Nat. Chem. 5 (9): 757–761. Bibcode:2013NatCh...5..757R. doi:10.1038/nchem.1720. PMC 3896090. PMID 23965677.
  15. ^ Wang, Gossweiler, Craig, Zhao (2014). "Cephalopod-inspired design of electro-mechano-chemically responsive elastomers for on-demand fluorescent patterning". Nat. Commun. 5: 4899. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.4899W. doi:10.1038/ncomms5899. PMID 25225837.
  16. ^ Gossweiler, Brown, Hewage, Sapiro-Gheiler, Trautman, Welshofer, Craig (2015). "Mechanochemically Active Soft Robots". ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 7 (40): 22431–22435. doi:10.1021/acsami.5b06440. PMID 26390078.
  17. ^ Young, Loveless, Craig (2005). "Strong means slow: dynamic contributions to the bulk mechanical properties of supramolecular networks". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44 (18): 2746–2748. doi:10.1002/anie.200500026. PMID 15806606.
  18. ^ Yount, Juwarker, Craig (2003). "Orthogonal Control of Dissociation Dynamics Relative to Thermodynamics in a Main-Chain Reversible Polymer". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125 (50): 15302–15303. doi:10.1021/ja036709y. PMID 14664569.
  19. ^ Yount, Loveless, Craig (2005). "Small-Molecule Dynamics and Mechanisms Underlying the Macroscopic Mechanical Properties of Coordinatively Cross-Linked Polymer Networks". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127 (41): 14488–14496. doi:10.1021/ja054298a. PMID 16218645.
  20. ^ Xu, Hawk, Loveless, Jeon, Craig (2010). "Mechanism of Shear Thickening in Reversibly Cross-Linked Supramolecular Polymer Networks". Macromolecules. 43 (7): 3556–3565. Bibcode:2010MaMol..43.3556X. doi:10.1021/ma100093b. PMC 2869658. PMID 20479956.
  21. ^ Xu, Craig (2010). "Multiple Dynamic Processes Contribute to the Complex Steady Shear Behavior of Cross-Linked Supramolecular Networks of Semidilute Entangled Polymer Solutions". J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 1 (11): 1683–1686. doi:10.1021/jz1004818. PMC 2894477. PMID 20606721.
  22. ^ Xu, Liu, Craig (2011). "Divergent Shear Thinning and Shear Thickening Behavior of Supramolecular Polymer Networks in Semidilute Entangled Polymer Solutions". Macromolecules. 44 (7): 2343–2353. Bibcode:2011MaMol..44.2343X. doi:10.1021/ma2000916. PMC 3085257. PMID 21547008.
  23. ^ Kean, Hawk, Lin, Zhao, Sijbesma, Craig (2014). "Increasing the Maximum Achievable Strain of a Covalent Polymer Gel Through the Addition of Mechanically Invisible Cross-Links". Adv. Mater. 26 (34): 6013–6018. Bibcode:2014AdM....26.6013K. doi:10.1002/adma.201401570. PMID 25044398. S2CID 25280359.
  24. ^ "Craig Lab Website". Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Google Scholar". Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  26. ^ "AAAS Fellows 2013". Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Arthur K. Doolittle Award". Archived from the original on 2020-09-20. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  28. ^ "Past Churchill Scholars".