Abstract
The following article is based on the presentation given by George M. Whitesides, recipient of the 2000 MRS Von Hippel Award, the Materials Research Society’s highest honor, at the 2000 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston on November 29, 2000. Whitesides was cited for “bringing fundamental concepts of organic chemistry and biology into materials science and engineering, through his pioneering research on surface modification, self-assembly, and soft lithography.” The article focuses on the growing role of organic chemistry in materials science. Historically, that role has been to provide organic polymers for use in structures, films, fibers, coatings, and so on. Organic chemistry is now emerging as a crucial part of three new areas in materials science. First, it provides materials with complex functionality. Second, it is the bridge between materials science and biology/medicine. Building an interface between biological systems and electronic or optical systems requires close attention to the molecular level of that interface. Third, organic chemistry provides a sophisticated synthetic entry into nanomaterials. Organic molecules are, in fact, exquisitely fabricated nanostructures, assembled with precision on the level of individual atoms. Colloids are a related set of nanostructures, and organic chemistry contributes importantly to their preparation as well.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
N.C. Greenham and R.H. Friend, in Solid State Physics, edited by H. Ehrenreich and F. Spaepen, Vol. II (Academic Press, San Diego, 1995) p. 1.
R.Y. Tsien, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 67 (1998) p. 509.
A. Kumar, H.A. Biebuyck, and White-G.M. sides, Langmuir 10 (1994) p. 1498.
W.S. Beh, I.T. Kim, D. Qin, Y. Xia, and G.M. Whitesides, Adv. Mater. 11 (1999) p. 1038.
J. Lee, V.C. Sundar, J.R. Heine, M.G. Bawendi, and K.F. Jensen, Adv. Mater. 12 (2000) p. 1102.
H. Mattoussi, J.F. Mauro, E. Goodman, G.P. Anderson, V.C. Sundar, F.V. Mikulec, and M.G. Bawendi, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122 (2000) p. 12142.
G.M. Whitesides, M.S. Wrighton, and G. Parshall, eds., Chemistry and Materials Science: Molecular Design and Engineering (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1986).
G.M. Whitesides, ed., Materials for Advanced Electronic Devices (American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1988).
R.J. Jackman, S.T. Brittain, A. Adams, M.G. Prentiss, and G.M. Whitesides, Science 280 (1998) p. 2089.
L. Yan, W.T.S. Huck, and G.M. Whitesides, eds., Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) and Synthesis of Planar Micro- and Nanostructures (Marcel Dekker, New York, 2000).
L. Isaacs, D.N. Chin, N. Bowden, Y. Xia, and G.M. Whitesides, eds., Self-Assembling Systems on Scales from Nanometers to Millimeters: Design and Discovery (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999).
G.M. Whitesides, E.E. Simanek, and C.B. Gorman, eds., Approaches to Synthesis Based on Non-Covalent Bonds (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1996).
R.G. Nuzzo and D.L. Allara, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 105 (1983) p. 4481.
D.L. Allara and R.G. Nuzzo, Langmuir 1 (1985) p. 45.
D.L. Allara and R.G. Nuzzo, Langmuir 1 (1985) p. 52.
R.G. Nuzzo, F.A. Fusco, and D.L. Allara, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 109 (1987) p. 2358.
R. Singhvi, A. Kumar, G.P. Lopez, G.N. Stephanopoulos, D.I.C. Wang, G.M. Whitesides, and D.E. Ingber, Science 264 (1994) p. 696.
C.S. Chen, M. Mrksich, S. Huang, G.M. Whitesides, and D.E. Ingber, Science 276 (1997) p. 1425.
R.G. Chapman, E. Otsuni, S. Takayama, R.E. Holmlin, L. Yan, and G.M. Whitesides, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122 (2000) p. 8303.
C.S. Chen, M. Mrksich, S. Huang, G.M. Whitesides, and D.E. Ingber,Biotechnol. Prog. 14 (1999) p. 356.
Y. Xia and G.M. Whitesides, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 37 (1998) p. 550.
D.C. Duffy, J.C. McDonald, O.J.A. Schueller, and G.M. Whitesides, Anal. Chem. 70 (1998) p. 4974.
J.R. Anderson, D.T. Chiu, R.J. Jackman, O. Cherniavskaya, J.C. McDonald, H.K. Wu, S.H. Whitesides, and G.M. Whitesides, Anal. Chem. 72 (2000) p. 3158.
P.J.A. Kenis, R.F. Ismagilov, and G.M. Whitesides, Science 285 (1999) p. 83.
M.H. Wu and G.M. Whitesides, Appl. Phys. Lett. 78 (2001) p. 2273.
V.I. Klimov, A.A. Mikhailovsky, S. Xu, A. Malko, J.A. Hollingworth, C.A. Leatherdale, H. Eisler-J., and M.G. Bawendi, Science 290 (2000) p. 314.
T.W. Odom, J.L. Huang, P. Kim, and C.M. Lieber, J. Phys. Chem. B 104 (2000) p. 2794.
S.H. Sun, C.B. Murray, D. Weller, L. Folks, and A. Moser, Science 287 (2000) p. 1989.
D.F. Evans and H. Wennerstrom, The Colloidal Domain: Where Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Technology Meet (Advances in Interfacial Engineering Series) (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999).
J.A. Rogers, Z. Bao, K. Baldwin, A. Dodabalapur, B. Crone, V.R. Raju, V. Kuck, H. Katz, K. Amundson, J. Ewing, and P. Drzaic, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98 (2001) p. 4835.
Philips Research Press and Media Web site, “New plastic circuits are flexible enough to be folded in half,” research press release archive, http://www.research.philips.com/pressmedia/releases/97005e.html (accessed December 2001).
H. Sirringhaus, T. Kawase, R.H. Friend, T. Shimada, M. Inbasekaran, W. Wu, and E.P. Woo, Science 290 (2000) p. 2123.
H.O. Jacobs and G.M. Whitesides, Science 291 (2001) p. 1763.
A.F. Diaz and D. Fenzel-Alexander, Langmuir 9 (1993) p. 1009.
H.W. Gibson, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 97 (1975) p. 3832.
R.G. Horn and D.T. Smith, Science 256 (1992) p. 362.
C.D. Bain and G.M. Whitesides, Science 240 (1988) p. 62.
Y. Xia, B. Gates, Y. Yin, and Y. Lu, Adv. Mater. 12 (2000) p. 693.
N. Bowden, A. Terfort, J. Carbeck, and G.M. Whitesides, Science 276 (1997) p. 233.
N. Bowden, I.S. Choi, B. Grzybowski, and G.M. Whitesides, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121 (1999) p. 5373.
D.H. Gracias, J. Tien, T.L. Breen, C. Hsu, and G.M. Whitesides, Science 289 (2000) p. 1170.
T.L. Breen, J. Tien, S.R.J. Oliver, T. Hadzic, and G.M. Whitesides, Science 284 (1999) p. 948.
A. Terfort, N. Bowden, and G.M. Whitesides, Nature 386 (1997) p. 162.
M.B. Cohn, K.F. Boehringer, J.M. Noworolski, A. Singh, C.G. Keller, K.Y. Goldberg, and R.T. Howe, in Proc. SPIE, Vol. 3514, edited by P.J. French and K. Chau (SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, WA, 1998) p. 2.
Y.N. Xia, J.A. Rogers, K.E. Paul, and G.M. Whitesides, Chem. Rev. 99 (1999) p. 1823.
N.B. Bowden, M. Weck, I.S. Choi, and G.M. Whitesides, Acc. Chem. Res. (2001) p. 231.
Y. Lu, Y. Yin, and Y. Xia, Adv. Mater. 13 (2001) p. 409.
K.F. Boehringer, R.S. Fearing, and K.Y. Goldberg, in The Handbook of Industrial Robotics, edited by S. Nof (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999) p. 1045.
J.M. Lehn and P. Ball, New Chem. (2000) p. 300.
D.R. Smith, W.J. Padilla, D.C. Vier, Nemat-S.C. Nasser, and S. Schultz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (2000) p. 4184.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitesides, G.M. Organic Materials Science. MRS Bulletin 27, 56–65 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2002.22
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2002.22