Prof. Luke Connal
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About
Luke Connal received a bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a PhD in polymer chemistry both from the University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2009 he completed a post-doctoral position with Frank Caruso developing new techniques for the self-assembly of polymers. He was then a joint Sir Keith Murdoch postdoctoral Fellow and Australian Linkage International Fellow at University of California Santa Barbra with Prof Craig Hawker. In 2013 Luke returned to the University of Melbourne as a veski Innovation Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. In 2017 he moved his group to the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University. His research interests lie in the development of biomimicry materials using advanced polymer design, self-assembly and catalysis.
Awards
Affiliations
- Connal Group, Leader
Research interests
Polymer Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Self-Assembly, Catalysis.
Publications
(50) Hu, G., Xiao, X., Smith, K., Kentish, S., Stevens, G., Connal, L. A. ‘A carbonic anhydrase inspired temperature responsive polymer based catalyst for accelerating carbon capture’ Chemical Engineering Journal 2018, 332, 556.
(49) Collins, J., Xiao, X., Connal, L. A. ‘Tunable degradation of PEG-like polymers based on imine and oxime bonds’ J. Polym. Sci. Part A; Polym. Chem, 2017, 55, 3826-3831.
(48) Karimi, F., Collins, J., Heath, D. E., Connal, L. A., ‘Dynamic Covalent Hydrogels for Triggered Cell Capture and Release’ Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2017, 28, 2235-2240.
(47) Nadgorny, M., Gentekos, D. T., Xiao, Z., Singleton, S. P., Fors, B. P., Connal, L. A.
‘A carbonic anhydrase inspired temperature responsive polymer based catalyst for accelerating carbon capture’ Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2017, 38, 1700352.
(46) Nadgorny, M., Xiao, Z., Connal, L. A. ‘2D and 3D-printing of self-healing gels: design and extrusion of self-rolling objects’ Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, 2017, 2, 283.
(45) Oschmann, B., Lawrence, J., Schulze, M. W., Ren, J. M., Anastasaki, A., Luo, Y., Nothling, M. D., Pester, C. W., Delaney, K. T., Connal, L. A., McGrath, A. J., Clark, P. G., Bates, C. M., Hawker, C. J. ‘Effects of Tailored Dispersity on the Self-Assembly of Dimethylsiloxane–Methyl Methacrylate Block Co-Oligomers’ ACS Macro Letters, 2017, 6, 668.
(44) Xiao, Z., Bonnard, T., Shakouri-Motlagh., Wylie, R. A., Collins, J., Heath, D., Hagemeyer, C., Connal, L. A., ‘Triggered and Tunable Hydrogen Sulfide Release from Photo-Generated Thiobenzaldehydes’ Chemistry – A European Journal, 2017, 10.1002/chem.201701206.
(43) Mitchell D. Nothling M. D., Ganesan, A., Condic-Jurkic, K., Pressly, E., Davalos, A., Gotrik, M. R., Xiao, X., Khoshdel, E., Hawker, C. J., O'Mara, M. L., Coote, M.L. Connal, L. A. Simple Design of an Enzyme-Inspired Supported Catalyst Based on a Catalytic Triad’’ Chem, 2017, 2, 732.
(42) Bennett, C., Collins, J., Xiao, Z., Klinger, D. Connal, L. A. ‘A Scalable and Versatile Synthesis of Oxime-Based Hormone Dimers and Gels for Sustained Release’ Chemistry – An Asian Journal, 2017, 12, 1456.
(41) Chen, C., Wylie R., Klinger D., Connal L. A. ‘Shape control of soft nanoparticles and their assemblies’ Chem. Mater. 2017, 29, 1918.
(40) Ng, W., Connal, L. A., Forbes, E., Mohanarangam, K., Franks, G., ‘In situ investigation of aggregate sizes formed using thermo-responsive polymers: Effect of temperature and shear’ Journal of Colloid & Interface Science 2017, 494, 139-152.
(39) Collins, J., Nadgorny , M., Xiao, Z., Connal, L. A., ‘Doubly Dynamic Self-Healing Materials Based on Oxime Click Chemistry and Boronic Acids’ Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2017, 38, 1600760
(38) Brisson, E. R. L., Xiao, Z., Franks, G., Connal L. A. ‘Versatile Synthesis of Amino Acid Functional Polymers without Protection Group Chemistry’ Biomacromolecules, 2017, 18, 272–280
(37) Nadgorny, M., Xiao, Z., Chen, C., Connal, L. A ‘3D-printing of pH-responsive and functional polymers on an affordable desktop printer’ ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2016, 8, 28946–28954
(36) Xiao, Z., Chen, C., Brisson, E. R. L., Collins, J., Ng., W. S., Connal, L. A. ‘Spatial Control of Flocculation via Light’ J. Polym. Sci. Part A; Polym. Chem, 2016, 54, 3407-3410.
(35) Ng, W., Forbes, E., Franks, G., Connal, L. A., ‘Xanthate-Functional Temperature-Responsive Polymers: Effect on Lower Critical Solution Temperature Behavior and Affinity towards Sulfide Surfaces’ Langmuir, 2016, 32, 7443–7451.
(34) Ng, W., Forbes, E., Connal, L. A., Franks, G., ‘Xanthate-Functional Temperature-Responsive Polymers as Selective Flocculants and Collectors for Fines Recovery Minerals Engineering’ Minerals Engineering, 2016 accepted 17th of May, doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2016.05.013.
(33) Collins, J., Xiao, Z., Muellner, M., Connal, L. A., ‘The Emergence of Oxime Click Chemistry and its Utility in Polymer Science’ Polym. Chem, 2016, 7, 3812-3826.
(32) Lawrence, J., Lee, S., -H., Abdilla, A., Nothling, M. D., Ren, J. M., Knight, A. S., Fleischmann, C., Li, Y., Abrams, A. S., Schmidt, B. V. K. J., Hawker, M. C., Connal, L. A., McGrath, A. J., Clark, P. G., Gutekunst, W. R., Hawker, C. J. ‘A Versatile and Scalable Strategy to Discrete Oligomers’ J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 6306–6310.
(31) Collins, J., Xiao, Z., Espinosa-Gomez, A., Fors, B P., Connal, L. A. ‘Extremely Rapid and Versatile Synthesis of High Molecular Weight Step Growth Polymers via Oxime Click Chemistry’ Polym. Chem. 2016, 7, 2581-2588.
(30) Chen, C., Xiao, Z., Connal, L. A. ‘Phase Separated Block Copolymer Particles with Tuneable Morphologies: Striped, Onion, and Patchy Particles’ Aust. J. Chem. 2016, DOI: 10.1071/CH16033.
(29) Brisson, E. R. L., Xiao, Z., Connal, L. A. ‘Amino Acid Functional Polymers: Biomimetic Polymer Design Enabling Catalysis, Chiral Materials, and Drug Delivery’ Aust. J. Chem. 2016, DOI:10.1071/CH16028.
(28) Brisson, E. R. L., Xiao, Z., Levin, L., Franks, G., Connal L. A. ‘Facile synthesis of histidine functional poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): zwitterionic and temperature responsive materials’, Polym. Chem. 2016, 7, 1945-1952.
(27) Xiao, Z., Wylie, R. A. L., Brisson, E. R. L., Connal, L. A. ‘pH-responsive fluorescent hydrogels using a new thioflavin T cross-linker’ J. Polym. Sci. Part A; Polym. Chem, 2016, 54, 591–595.
(26) Kempe, K., Wylie, R. A., Dimitriou, M. D., Tran, H., Hoogenboom, R., Schubert, U. S., Hawker, C. J., Campos, L. M., Connal, L. A. ‘Preparation of non-spherical particles from amphiphilic block copolymers’ J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016, 54, 750–757.
(25) Xiao, Z., Bennett, C. W. and Connal, L. A. ‘Facile and versatile platform for the preparation of functional polyethylenes via thiol-ene chemistry’ J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015, 53, 1957–1960.
(24) Lowe, S., O'Brien-Simpson N. M., Connal, L. A. ‘Antibiofouling polymer interfaces: poly (ethylene glycol) and other promising candidates’ Polym. Chem. 2015, 6, 198-212.
(23) Klinger, K., Wang, C., Connal, L. A., Audus, D. J., Jang, S. -G., Kraemer, S., Killops, K. L., Fredrickson, G. H., Kramer, E. J., Hawker C. J. ‘A Facile Synthesis of Dynamic, Shape‐Changing Polymer Particles’ Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 7018–7022.
(22) Klinger, D., Robb, M. J., Spruell, J .M., Lynd, N. A., Hawker, C. J., Connal, L. A. ‘Supramolecular guests in solvent driven block copolymer assembly: from internally structured nanoparticles to micelles’ Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5038-5042.
(21) Liu, Y., Pressly, E., Pierce, R., Connal, L. A., Hawker, C. J. ‘Nanoparticle PET/CT imaging of natriuretic peptide clearance receptor in prostate cancer’ Bioconjugate Chem. 2013, 24, 196-204.
(20) Connal, L. A., Robb, M. J., Lynd, N. A., See, K. A., Jang, S. G., Hawker, C. J. ‘Mesostructured block copolymer nanoparticles: Versatile templates for hybrid inorganic/organic nanostructures’ Chem. Mater. 2012, 21, 4036-4042.
(19) Robb, M. J., Connal, L. A., Lee, B. F., Lynd, N. A., Hawker, C. J. ‘Functional block copolymer nanoparticles: toward the next generation of delivery vehicles’ Polym. Chem., 2012, 6, 1618-1628.
(18) Mertz, D., Ochs, C. J., Zhu, Z. Y., Lee, L., Guntari, S. N., Such, G. K., Goh, T. K., Connal, L. A., Blencowe, A., Qiao, G. G., Caruso, F. ‘ATRP-mediated continuous assembly of polymers for the preparation of nanoscale films’ Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 12601-12603.
(17) Goh, T. K., Guntari, S. N., Ochs, C. J., Blencowe, A., Mertz, D., Connal, L. A., Such, G. K., Qiao, G. G., Caruso, F. ‘Nanoengineered Films via Surface‐Confined Continuous Assembly of Polymers’ Small, 2011, 20, 2863–2867.
(16) Spruell, J., Wolffs, M., Leibfarth, F., Stahl, B., Heo, J., Connal, L. A, Hu, J., Hawker, C. J. ‘Reactive, multifunctional polymer films through thermal cross-linking of orthogonal click groups’ J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 16698-16706
(15) Binauld, S., Damiron, D., Connal, L. A., Hawker, C. J., Drockenmuller E. ‘Macromol. Rapid Comm. 2011, 32, 147.
(14) Connal L. A, Franks G. V, Qiao G. G ‘Photochromic, metal-absorbing honeycomb structures’ Langmuir 2010, 13, 10397- 10400.
(13) Chandrawati, R., Städler, B., Postma, A., Connal, L. A., Chong, S. -W., Zelikin, A. N., Caruso, F. ‘Cholesterol-mediated anchoring of enzyme-loaded liposomes within disulfide-stabilized polymer carrier capsules’ Biomaterials, 2009, 30, 5988-5998.
(12) Städler, B., Chandrawati, R., Price, A. D., Chong, S. -F., Breheney, K., Postma, A., Connal, L. A., Zelikin, A. N., Caruso, F. ‘A microreactor with thousands of subcompartments: enzyme-loaded liposomes within polymer capsules’ Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 4359-4362.
(11) Connal, L. A., Kinnane, C. R., Zelikin, A. N., Caruso, F. ‘Stabilization and Functionalization of Polymer Multilayers and Capsules via Thiol−Ene Click Chemistry’ Chem. Mater. 2009, 21, 576-578.
(10) Connal, L. A., Vestberg, R., Hawker, C. J., Qiao, G. G. ‘Dramatic Morphology Control in the Fabrication of Porous Polymer Films’ Adv. Funct. Mater. 2008, 18, 3706-3714.
(9) Connal, L. A., Vestberg, R., Hawker, C. J., Qiao, G. G. ‘Fabrication of Reversibly Crosslinkable, 3-Dimensionally Conformal Polymeric Microstructures’ Adv. Funct. Mater. 2008, 18, 3315-3322.
(8) Connal, L. A., Li, Q., Quinn, J. F., Tjipto, E., Caruso, F., Qiao, G. G. ‘pH-Responsive Poly(acrylic acid) Core Cross-Linked Star Polymers: Morphology Transitions in Solution and Multilayer Thin Films’ Macromol., 2008, 41, 2620-2626.
(7) Connal, L. A., Vestberg, R., Gurr, P. A., Hawker, C. J., Qiao, G. G. ‘Patterning on nonplanar substrates: flexible honeycomb films from a range of self-assembling star copolymers’ Langmuir, 2008, 24, 556-562.
(6) Connal, L. A., Vestberg, R., Hawker, C. J., Qiao, G. G. ‘Synthesis of dendron functionalized core cross-linked star polymers’ Macromol. 2007, 40, 7855-7863.
(5) Craig, I., Aravinthan, V., Baillie, C., Beswick, A., Barnes, G., Bradbury, R., Connal, L A., Coop, P., Fellows, C., Fitzmaurice, L., Foley, J., Hancock, N., Lamb, D., Morrison, P., Misra, R., Mossad, R., Pittaway, P., Prime, E., Rees, S., Schmidt, E., Solomon, D., Symes, T., Turnbull, D, ‘Evaporation, seepage and water quality management in storage dams: a review of research methods’ Environ Health, 2007, 3, 84-97
(4) Connal, L. A., Qiao, G. G. ‘Honeycomb coated particles: porous doughnuts, golf balls and hollow porous pockets’ Soft Matter, 2007, 3, 837-839.
(3) Connal, L. A. ‘Flexible honeycomb films’ Aust. J. Chem. 2007, 60, 794-794.
(2) Connal, L. A., Qiao, G. G. ‘Preparation of Porous Poly (dimethylsiloxane)‐Based Honeycomb Materials with Hierarchal Surface Features and Their Use as Soft‐Lithography Templates’ Adv. Mater., 2006, 18, 3024-3028.
(1) Connal, L. A., Gurr, P.A., Qiao, G.G., Solomon, D. H. J. ‘From well-defined star-microgels to highly ordered honeycomb films’ Mater. Chem. 2005, 15, 1286-1292.
Patents
(4) ‘Synthetic enzyme mimic based on a histidine scaffold’ Luke Andrew Connal, Craig Jon Hawker, Ezat Khoshdel, Eric Dean Pressly, 2016, WO2016096589
(3) ‘Synthetic enzyme mimic based on a histidine scaffold’ Luke Andrew Connal, Craig Jon Hawker, Ezat Khoshdel, Eric Dean Pressly, 2016, WO2016096590
(2) ‘Process for the preparation of a cross-linked multilayer film’ Caruso F. Connal L.A.; Qiao, G. G. Such, G. Blencowe, A. B. Goh, T.K. 2011 12/932959
(1) ‘Porous Polymeric Materials and Polymer Particles for Preparation Thereof’ Connal, L. A.; Wiltshire, J. T.; Qiao, G. G. PCT Int. Appl. (2007), 138pp. WO 2007051252.