Between 18-22. 02. 2022 we had a chance to participate in III International Conference on Materials Science & Engineering in Boston. It was organized in a hybrid manner so it was possible to participate in lectures online. Yesterday, our Teal Leader was giving a presentation concerning “Unsaturated Silsesquioxanes as Building Blocks of Novel Hybrid Systems”. It was a very good opportunity to hear about the up-to-date progress in material science in the last few years and meet proficient specialists in this area of chemistry. Continue reading →

Great information just before Easter 😉. The last paper for Kasia’s PhD Thesis has just been published. What does it concern? Swiftly speaking, it describes a formation of a series of unique organic-inorganic hybrid materials varied in the construction of the applied polysiloxanes and di(alkenyl)functionalized double-decker silsesquioxanes. The obtained results revealed the influence of the type and content of DDSQ in cross-linked polymers structures on their thermal and swelling properties which has not been reported so far. High swelling degree – solvent uptake for CHCl₃ up to 928% and for THF up to 690%. Continue reading →

Last week, April 8th at Faculty PhD Seminar we had a chance to listen to a guest online lecture given by Prof. Carmela Aprile from the University of Namur (Belgium). Its title: “Silica-based nanostructures at a glance: from synthesis to catalytic applications”. Prof. Aprile is a reputable expert in the area of material science. Her scientific interests concern different fields of materials, including mesoporous systems, organic-inorganic hybrid solids and their characterization that in particular pays attention to solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. She is also interested in heterogeneous catalysis and its use in sustainable chemistry. We have ongoing scientific cooperation. Continue reading →

On the 5th of January Kasia set off on a journey to Michigan to start her internship. She will spend 4 months at the University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering at prof. Richard Laine Group. He is one of the most reorganizable scientists working i.a. in the area of organosilicon chemistry, i.e. silsesquioxanes as hybrid frameworks and their diverse applications. Good luck Kasia! Continue reading →

A great present under the Christmas Tree – a paper by Ola and cooperation with prof. Maciej Kubicki concerning a series of dendritic systems with silsesquioxane cores (gen. G1 and G1.5). T₈ and DDSQ-based systems were obtained by hydrolytic condensation and hydrosilylation. The synthesized compounds were characterized by spectroscopy, and two of them were additionally characterized by XRD analyzes. This is the first example of the use of a double-decker silsesquioxane as a dumbbell dendrimer core that expands in two or four directions. Continue reading →

A nice gift under the Christmas tree 😉 – a research article in the prestigious Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers journal has just been published. This is our probably last paper in 2021. It is a great example of how the unexpected outcome of your experiments may give rise to an interesting paper that is the result of an excellent cooperation of specialists in synthetic, analytic and crystallographic chemistry. We encourage You to read it.

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2021 Silicon-Containing Polymers and Composites Workshop was organized in San Diego (USA), between 1-4th December 2021. Our Leader – Beata Dudziec was invited to give a lecture entitled Synthetic protocols for modifications of double-decker silsesquioxanes as “fine chemicals” representatives. Because of the pandemic situation, the lecture was performed during a special virtual session 7^th December. It was a great time for the exchange of our work results and a brief but fruitful discussion. Continue reading →

Yes, yes, yes…. we did it!!! We have got funding in the last edition of NCN OPUS 21 projects.

Our project entitled “Advanced coordination materials designed on the basis of functional silsesquioxanes” was one among the 30^th  of the lucky ones which were granted (of 181 all project proposals in ST5 panel).

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On 27-28 September 2021, Kasia Mituła was taking part in the Forum of Intelligent Development held in Toruń- the beautiful city of Poland known for the great scientist Nicolaus Copernicus. This unique event combining science and technology is dedicated to the dissemination of innovative scientific research and technologies which might improve the standard and safety of our lives now or in the future. The Congress favours networking between visionaries, outstanding Polish scientists, investors and local governments which are creating attractive conditions for locating business and science in their regions. Continue reading →