The Swager Group

The Swager Group

@swagergroup.bsky.social

It's swahhh-ger. Organic materials, polymer synthesis, chemical sensing & dynamic colloids @mitchemistry.bsky.social & @isn.mit.edu. Our web is https://swagergroup-archive.mit.edu. Earlier posts can be viewed via our X account at https://x.com/SwagerGroup.

58 Followers 43 Following 69 Posts Joined Mar 2025
2 months ago
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🍻πŸ₯©: Yesterday, several of the πŸ¦žβ€™s went out for a dinner to send our best wishes to Hayeon Kim, an exchange Ph.D. student from the Department of CBE at KAIST. We wish her all the best in her upcoming journey, and hopefully she had many great memories with the lab members!

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2 months ago
Preview
Photoactive PFA Coating through Fluorophilic Interactions for Continuous Flow Photochemistry The design of flow reactors for heterogeneous photocatalysis is key to enhancing the control, efficiency, and scalability of chemical reactions. However, conventional designs such as slurry reactors and fixed bed reactors often suffer from poor light penetration, challenging catalyst attachment to the support, and difficult separations. We report an efficient and robust methodology for the functionalization of perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) coil reactors with different fluorinated photocatalysts [a perylene diimide (F-PDI) and poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) polymers (PPEST and POLPDI)] through fluorophilic interactions. We have evaluated the efficiency of photocatalyst-functionalized coil reactors in continuous flow experiments through the [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of 9-vinylcarbazole (VCZ) using blue and green light (440 and 525 nm). The conversion of VCZ to the product 1,2-trans-dicarbazylcyclobutane (t-DCZCB) was continuously monitored by in-line nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and we found that PPEST was the most robust photocatalyst coating of those studied, leading to high conversions with different lamp powers and residence times. Further experiments proved that PPEST-functionalized coil reactors were stable and efficient after 18 h of continuous flow with conversions from around 50 to 75%.

Here is the link to the article if you are interested to know what our scientists came up with: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

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2 months ago
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πŸ“°: Our recent publication in @jacs.acspublications.org Au introduces a new method to functionalize PFA coil reactors with different photocatalysts through fluorophilic interactions, which can help configure flow reactors for reactions on scale. Congrats to Benedikt, JesΓΊs, and AF Research Lab team!

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2 months ago
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πŸ†• labmate: A late introduction, but we warmly welcome Dr. Yuki Hata who's from Nagoya, Japan. He got his B.S. from Yokohama National University and his Master's from @utokyoofficial.bsky.social before working for Nippon Steel and getting his Ph.D. from Nagoya University concurrently. Stay tuned!

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3 months ago
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πŸ†• lab member: We welcome Dr. Davide Zanetti, who recently joined our lab as a FWF postdoc fellow! He obtained his BSc and then MSc from Univ. of Turin/@icmabcsic.bsky.social and then PhD from Univ. of Vienna. He'll explore redox-active organic systems and magneto-optical materials soon. Stay tuned!

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4 months ago

Our Faraday paper is now published in all its glory! www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Chemsky #Physics @oxfordchemistry.bsky.social @spcoxford.bsky.social

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4 months ago
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πŸŽπŸπŸ‚: Last weekend, our lab members went to Honey Pot Hill Orchards, just ~45 minutes of driving away from the lab, to enjoy some apple cider donuts and freshly picked apples! Presented below are beautiful pictures from Ming's camera, and stay tuned for more beautiful photos when October still lasts!

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4 months ago
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Happy Tuesday: πŸ–ΌοΈ's from the award ceremony! Collette, a NOBCChE collaborative student representative, and Jennifer represented MIT at the Graduate School Fair at the NOBCChE conference. FYI, Tim also serves as an MIT faculty representative. Also, a nice reunion with former MSRP alumnus Arinze!

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4 months ago
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🫑: A belated post, but we are happy to celebrate our group members presenting at the NOBCChE conference last month! Collette and Jennifer represented our group while reuniting with Kayla (our former group graduate!), Andy, and Eric. Collette also earned First Place in the NSF Innovation Tank Talk!

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5 months ago

Better pictures thanks to Ming, our professional photographer and also an enthusiastic postdoc! Can you name the members in the picture (harder question: not in the picture as well?!?)?

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5 months ago
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From explosives to ketones, all the way to PFAS, ethylene, and finally hydrogen sensing, the story of chemiresistors and biosensors in our lab still continues until today. Reunion with our alumni Prof. Richard Liu & @lennonluo.bsky.social @harvard.edu and a group photo in front of a group picture!

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5 months ago
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πŸ“£: Tim gave the Max Tishler Prize Lecture today @harvard.edu and got the medallion from our alumnus (and now a faculty member in the Department’s next door to us!) Richard. In a breezy day in Cambridge, we got together with our colleagues to listen to Tim’s exciting story πŸŽ‰!

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5 months ago

The above article was published in @jacs.acspublications.org earlier today!

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5 months ago
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πŸ“œπŸš¨: New paper coming to your area! As promised, in this work, Daniel showcases an efficient synthesis of FOPCOT, which can be used as organic Faraday rotators. Thank you to our collaborators at SUNY Buffalo, Molly, Harry, and Peter from MIT XRD! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

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6 months ago
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πŸ“°: Our rising 5th year stars Molly and Daniel along with our postdoc Maryam presented their research yesterday at the @mitchemistry.bsky.social - Merck symposium! While you probably have seen Molly's and Maryam's work elsewhere on the net before, stay tuned for Daniel's very soon!

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6 months ago

Forgot to mention but we have our awesome postdocs Chi-Hsien, Ming, Sung Hwa, and the energetic/fabulous graduate students Jennifer, Francesca, Rina, and Tiffany! 🌹🌹🌹

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6 months ago
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🏐🦞: Repost from MIT Grad Rat Instagram! The lobsters are vibing with the last bit of Cambridge's summer weather before the fall foliage. Can you tell us what and how are our lobsters doing? If not, pay attention to the first pictures! Following the heated match is the Muddy's...

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6 months ago
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✍️: We gathered together last night to send our best wishes to our recent graduate Haosheng for his future journey! Following the fulfilling hotpot dinner, we had a friendly 🎱 match along with great 🍻 and conversations! So far, a successful lab social before the fall semester starts next week!

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6 months ago
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✌️: Say hi to our newest lab member, Benjamin, who's from Heidelberg in Germany! He did his bachelor thesis in the Levkin group at the KIT and is currently pursuing his master's at Heidelberg University. He interned at the startup Panosome before joining our lab. A warm welcome!

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6 months ago
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🧨🍾 to Tim for winning the Arthur C. Cope Award and giving such a great lecture today! Featured in the photo below are Tim and the lobster crew: our postdocs Chi-Hsien and Harry, our former Ph.D. graduate @lennonluo.bsky.social, and our soon-to-be doctor Molly! Please enjoy the vibe while it lasts!!

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6 months ago
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Our great leader Tim is currently giving his Arthur C. Cope Award Lecture at ACS Fall 2025 under the topic of "materialverse" where opportunities never cease to amaze anyone! Looks like we have a great attendance there, so you certainly do not want to miss this great talk!!!

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6 months ago
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πŸ§‘β€πŸ’»: Molly's podium presentation is currently happening in the ACS Fall 2025, and let us brag about how great she is in any role - as a person, speaker, or chemist! You definitely do not want to miss the talk! And less than two hours is Tim's talk - stay tuned for more fun with the lobsters πŸ˜‰

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6 months ago
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As our kick-off member today in the ACS Fall 2025 meeting, our gorgeous postdoc Chi-Hsien also presented her work in the group about detecting NDMA in aqueous media using a novel colorimetric assay. Watch out as this work will be featured in a journal near you very soon (catch it if you can 🀭)!!!

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6 months ago
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Someone is not doing a good job in highlighting our lab citizens' awards, so here is the belated congratulations to our rockstar postdoc Harry for being selected as one of 20 PMSE Future Faculty class members! He also gave a talk earlier today at the PMSE symposium at the ACS Fall 2025 meeting!

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6 months ago

A little bit of an early sneak peek, but Tim is giving ANOTHER talk on the topic of organic electronics - applications in sensing also in Hall D, Room 4, but on Wednesday! The podium presentation will start at 10:00 AM, so grab a coffee before the talk starts and enjoy it nicely!

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6 months ago

Note that Molly's presentation in the afternoon is held at 3:00 PM, and Tim's presentation will be held in Room 147A at 4:50 PM. More polymers, more materials, more fun for every chemist! We all look forward to seeing great attendance in the talks there tomorrow!!!

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6 months ago

To conclude the day, our awesome boss Tim will give his Arthur C. Cope Award presentation regarding organic chemistry in materials design - an expanding universe of opportunities. If you are doing research in the "materialverse" world, you definitely don't want to miss this talk! Say hi to him too!

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6 months ago

We reconvene in the afternoon with more cool chemistry from our 5th year grad student Molly regarding the development of cost-effective emissive porous benzoxazine polymers, many of which are utilized in the lab. If you are looking for inspiration for cheap materials, go see her in Room 3, Hall D!

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6 months ago

Then, at 10:40 AM, our other postdoc Harry will give a talk about n-type conducting polymers as new materials for ultrasensitive hydrogen detection in Room 5, Hall D. If you want to hear more about our electronic and soft materials, go catch him and get ready for the excitement he brings over to DC!

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6 months ago

πŸ“’: It is a BUSY day for the🦞's in the ACS Fall 2025 tomorrow! At 9:55 AM in room 207B, our postdoc Chi-Hsien is kicking us off with her podium presentation under the title "Development of a novel colorimetric assay for N-nitrosodimethylamine detection in aqueous solution." See you there for the fun!

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