Molecular Stress Relief in JACS

Dong and Jeremy’s paper on “molecular stress relief” has been published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Using force spectroscopy, it is possible to observe a single polymer molecule literally growing longer in real time at strains that typically would lead to chain scission.  The increased toughness at the single molecule level has possible consequences for the design and synthesis of new stress-responsive materials.  The paper involves a collaboration with Prof. Boris Akhremitchev of the Florida Institute of Technology.