Publications
Chain Microstructure as a Noncovalent Catalyst: Intrachain π–π Stacking Controls Rate in Fluorinated Polyester ROCOP
Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Moritz Riegler, Luca Steiner, Sudeshna Sahoo, Markus Retsch, Francesca De Falco, Beate Paulus, Alex J. Plajer*
Macromolecules 2026
DOI:10.1021/acs.macromol.6c01260
Metathesis-Sourced Epoxides in Ring-Opening Copolymerization: Selective Access to Degradable Polythioesters
Niracha Tangyen, Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Valerio D'Elia*, Alex J. Plajer*
Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2026, 47, e70247
Hydrogelation via Supramolecular Copolymerization of Structural Water within Adaptive Metal–Organic Fibers
Merlin R. Stühler, Hesam Makki, Tarek Hilal, Debsena Chakraboty, Mathias Dimde, Kai Ludwig, Rainer Haag, Sabine Rosenfeldt, Dorothee Silbernagl, Andreas Schäfer, Alex J. Plajer*
Adv. Mater. 2026, 38, e19933
Flexibility and Dynamicity Enhances and Controls Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Zinc(II) Metallogels
Merlin R. Stühler, Hesam Makki, Dorothee Silbernagl, Mathias Dimde, Kai Ludwig, Bengt E. Tegner, Christopher Greve, Konstantin Rausch, Eva M. Herzig, Anna Köhler, Alex J. Plajer*
Adv. Funct. Mater. 2026, 36, 2507793
Sulfur-containing Polyesters from Thioanhydride/CS2/epoxide Ring-opening Terpolymerisation: Monomer Scope and Gold-nanoparticle Functionalisation
Cesare Gallizioli, Marina Sebastian, Malte Cornelsen, Christian Rossner*, Alex J. Plajer*
Eur. Polym. J. 2025, 241, 114373
DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2025.114373
Recoverable Fluorination Accelerates Ring-Opening Copolymerisation and Enables Post-Polymerisation-Modification of Polyesters
Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Luca Steiner, Chengzhang Xu, Beate Paulus*, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202515104
Monomer-Dependent Selectivity in Sulfur-Containing Ring-Opening Copolymerisation: Bimetallic Catalysis for Predictive Design of Degradable Polymers
Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Mani Sengoden, Merlin R. Stühler, Robert Langer, Donald J. Darensbourg*, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202508985
Supramolecular Polymerization and Self-assembly of Transition Metal Complexes
Merlin R. Stühler, Alex J. Plajer*
Polym. Chem. 2025, 16, 2799-2810
Sequence Control in Sulfur-Containing Ring-Opening Co- and Terpolymerisations
Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Cesare Gallizioli, Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Jenny Stephan, Merlin R. Stühler, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202507243
Kinetically Enhanced Access to a Dynamic Polyester Platform via Sequence Selective Terpolymerisation of Elemental Sulfur
Cesare Gallizioli, Peter Deglmann, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. 2025, 64, e202501337
Recent Advances in Polyimine Chemistry: Synthesis, Functional Design, and Degradation
Debsena Chakraborty, Alex J. Plajer*
J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 21, 4383–4393
Harnessing Borane-Potassium Cooperativity for Sulfurated Ring-Opening Copolymerisation
Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Kailey Sun Marcus, Rosa Maria Gomila, Antonio Frontera, Alex J. Plajer*
Green Chem. 2025, 27, 3494-3502
Sulfur-containing block polymers from ring-opening copolymerization: coordinative encapsulants for transition metals
Jenny Stephan, Merlin R. Stühler, Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Mathias Dimde, Kai Ludwig, Heinz Sturm, Jorge L. Olmedo-Martínez, Alejandro J. Müller, Alex J. Plajer*
Polym. Chem. 2025, 16, 1003-1009
Monomer centred selectivity guidelines in sulfurated ring-opening copolymerisations
Merlin R. Stühler, Marie Kreische, Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Susanne M. Rupf, Robert Langer, Alex J. Plajer*
Chem. Sci. 2024, 15, 19029-19036
Fluoride Recovery in Degradable Fluorinated Polyesters
Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Merlin R. Stühler, Alexandre Millanvois, Luca Steiner, Christiane Weimann, Dorothee Silbernagl, Heinz Sturm, Beate Paulus, Alex J. Plajer*
Chem. Commun. 2024, 60, 7479-7482
Easy Synthetic Access to High-Melting Sulfurated Copolymers and their Self-Assembling Block Polymers from Phenylisothiocyanate and Oxetane
Jenny Stephan, Jorge L Olmedo-Martínez, Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Merlin Stühler, Mathias Dimde, Daniel Braatz, Robert Langer, Alejandro J Müller, Holger Schmalz, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202405047
Improved access to polythioesters by heterobimetallic aluminium catalysis
Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Merlin R. Stühler, Luise Quick, Alex J. Plajer*
Chem. Commun. 2024, 60, 4541-4544
Ring-Opening Terpolymerisation of Elemental Sulfur Waste with Propylene Oxide and Carbon Disulfide via Lithium Catalysis
Cesare Gallizioli, David Battke, Helmut Schlaad, Peter Deglmann, Alex J. Plajer*
Angew. Chem. 2024, 63, e202319810
Ring-opening terpolymerisation of phthalic thioanhydride with carbon dioxide and epoxides
Merlin R. Stühler, Cesare Gallizioli, Susanne M. Rupf and Alex J. Plajer*
Polym. Chem. 2023, 14, 4848-4855
Precise construction of weather-sensitive poly(ester-alt-thioesters) from phthalic thioanhydride and oxetane
Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Merlin R. Stühler, Cesare Gallizioli, Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Volker Wachtendorf, Bernhard Schartel and Alex J. Plajer*
Chem. Commun. 2023, 59, 11353-11356
Precise cooperative sulfur placement leads to semi-crystallinity and selective depolymerisability in CS2/oxetane copolymers
Christoph Fornacon-Wood, Bhargav R. Manjunatha, Merlin R. Stühler, Cesare Gallizioli, Carsten Müller, Patrick Pröhm and Alex J. Plajer*
Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 4525
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39951-y
Mechanistic mapping of (CS2/CO2)/epoxide copolymerization catalysis leads to terpolymers with improved degradability
Jenny Stephan, Merlin R. Stühler, Susanne M. Rupf, Sam Neale and Alex J. Plajer*
Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 2023, 4, 101510
DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101510
Lithium catalysed sequence selective ring opening terpolymerisation: a mechanistic study
Peter Deglmann, Sara Machleit, Cesare Gallizioli, Susanne M. Rupf and Alex J. Plajer*
Catal. Sci. Technol. 2023, 13, 2937-2945
Sequence Selective Ring-opening Terpolymerisation Facilitates Higher Order Switchable Catalysis
Alex J. Plajer*
ChemCatChem 2022, 14, e202200867
Thioanhydride/isothiocyanate/epoxide ring-opening terpolymerisation: sequence selective enchainment of monomer mixtures and switchable catalysis
Dorothee Silbernagl, Heinz Sturm, Alex J. Plajer*
Polym. Chem. 2022, 13, 3981-3985
Lithium achieves sequence selective ring-opening terpolymerization (ROTERP) of ternary monomer mixtures
Susanne Rupf, Patrick Pröhm, Alex J. Plajer*
Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 6355-6365
Publications prior to independent career:
“Templation and concentration drive conversion between a FeII12L12 pseudoicosahedron, a FeII4L4 tetrahedron, and a FeII2L3 helicate"
D. Zhang, Q. Gan, A. J. Plajer, R. Lavendomme, T. K. Ronson, Z. Lu, J. D. Jensen, B. W. Laursen, J. R. Nitschke, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 1106-1112
"Heterocycle/heteroallene ring‐opening copolymerization: selective catalysis delivering alternating copolymers"
A. J. Plajer, C. K. Williams, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202104495
"Heterotrinuclear ring opening copolymerization catalysis: structure–activity relationships"
A. J. Plajer, C. K. Williams, ACS Catalysis 2021, 11, 14819-14828
"Synthesis of tris(3-pyridyl)aluminate ligand and its’ unexpected stability against hydrolysis: revealing cooperativity effects in heterobimetallic pyridyl aluminates"
Á. García-Romero, J. M. Martín-Álvarez, A. L. Colebatch, A. J. Plajer, D. Miguel, C. M. Álvarez, R. García-Rodríguez, Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 13059-13065
"Heterotrimetallic CO2 copolymerization and switchable catalysts: sodium is the key to high activity and unusual selectivity"
A. J. Plajer, C. K. Williams, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 13372–13379
"Recent advances in the synthesis and application of tris(pyridyl) ligands containing (semi)metallic p-block bridgeheads"
A. J. Peel, A. J. Plajer, J. E. Waters, R. García-Rodríguez, D. S. Wright, Adv. Organomet. Chem. 2021, 75, 193-213
"Coordination chemistry of the tris-2-pyridyl pnictogen ligands [E(6-Me-2-py)3] (E = As, As=O, Sb)"
A. J. Plajer*, D. Crusius, R. B. Jethwa, A. D. Bond, R. García-Rodríguez*, D. S. Wright*, Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 2393-2402
"Towards a converged strategy for including microsolvation in reaction mechanism calculations"
P. Deglman, M. el Mahdali, A. J. Plajer, R. Sure J. Comput. Aid. Mol. Des. 2021, 35, 473–492
"The coordination chemistry of N‐donor substituted phosphazanes"
A. J. Plajer*, A. D. Bond, D. S. Wright*, Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 289–297
"Oxidation-triggered guest ejection from an Fe4L6 twisted parallelogram"
A. J. Plajer, F. J. Rizzuto, L. K. S. von Krbek, Y. Gisbert, V. Martínez-Agramunt, J. R. Nitschke Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 10399–10404
"Tris(2-pyridyl) bismuthines: coordination chemistry, reactivity, and anion-triggered pyridyl coupling"
Á. García-Romero, A. J. Plajer, D. Miguel, D. S. Wright, A. D. Bond, C. M. Álvarez, R. García-Rodríguez*, Inorg. Chem. 2020, 59, 10, 7103–7116
"Charge-assisted phosph(V)azane anion receptors"
A. J. Plajer*, S. Lee, A. D. Bond, J. M. Goodman, D. S. Wright*, Dalton Trans. 2020, 49, 3403-3407
"Conformational control in main group phosphazane anion receptors and transporters"
A. J. Plajer*, J. Zhu, P. Pröhm, F. J. Rizzuto, U. F. Keyser, D. S. Wright*, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 2, 1029–1037
"A tris(3-pyridyl)stannane as a building block for heterobimetallic coordination polymers and cages"
E. S. Yang, A. J. Plajer, Á. García-Romero, A. D. Bond, R. García-Rodríguez, A. L. Colebatch, D. S. Wright, Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 25, 14003–14009
"Guest binding via N-H•••π-bonding and kinetic entrapment by an inorganic macrocycle"
A. J. Plajer, F. J. Rizzuto, H.-C. Niu, S. Lee, J. M. Goodman, D. S. Wright, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 10655–10659
"Deprotonation, insertion and isomerisation in the post-functionalisation of tris-pyridyl aluminates"
A. J. Plajer, S. Kopf, A. L. Colebatch, A. D. Bond, R. García‐Rodríguez, D. S. Wright, Dalton Trans. 2019, 48, 5692-5697
"Tailoring the binding properties of phosphazane anion receptors"
A. J. Plajer, J. Zhu, P. Pröhm, A. D. Bond, U. F. Keyser, D. S. Wright, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (22), 8807-8815
"Fluorometric recognition of nucleotides within a water‐soluble tetrahedral capsule"
A. J. Plajer, E. G. Percástegui, M. Santella, F. J. Rizzuto, Q. Gan, B. W. Laursen, J. R. Nitschke, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 4200-4204
"Hydrogen-bond-assisted symmetry breaking in a network of chiral metal-organic assemblies"
F. J. Rizzuto, P. Pröhm, A. J. Plajer, J. L. Greenfield, J. R. Nitschke, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 1707–1715
"Waterproof architectures through subcomponent self-assembly"
E. G. Percástegui, J. Mosquera, T. K. Ronson, A. J. Plajer, M. Kieffer, J. R. Nitschke, Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 2006-2018
"Post‐functionalisation of tris‐pyridyl aluminate ligands: chirality, coordination and supramolecular chemistry"
Á. García-Romero, A. J. Plajer, L. Álvarez-Miguel, A. D. Bond, D. S. Wright, R. García-Rodríguez, Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 17019–17026
"Different selectivities in the insertions into C(sp2)‐H bonds ‐ benzofulvenes by dual gold catalysis"
A. J. Plajer, L. Ahrens, M. Wieteck, D. M. Lustosa, R. B. Ahmadi, B. Yates, M. Rudolph, F. Rominger, A .S. K. Hashmi
Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 10766–10772, "The coordination chemistry of the neutral tris-2-pyridyl silicon ligand [PhSi(6-Me-2-py)3]"
A. J. Plajer, A. L. Colebatch, M. Enders, Á. García-Romero, A. D. Bond, R. García-Rodríguez, D. S. Wright, Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 7036-7043
"Formation and selection of the macrocycle [{(tBuN=)P(μ-NtBu)}2(μ-Se)2{P(μ-NtBu)}2]3"
A. J. Plajer, H.-C. Niu, F. J. Rizzuto, D. S. Wright, Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 6675-6678
"How changing the bridgehead can affect the properties of tripodal ligands"
A. J. Plajer, A. L. Colebatch, F. J. Rizzuto, P. Pröhm, A. D. Bond, R. García‐Rodríguez, D. S. Wright, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 6648-6652
"Designing the macrocyclic dimension in main group chemistry"
H.‐C. Niu, A. J. Plajer, R. Garcia‐Rodriguez, S. Singh, D. S. Wright, Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 3037-3082
"Flexible bonding of the phosph(V)azane dianions [S(E)=P(μ‐NtBu)]22−"
A. J. Plajer, R. Garcia‐Rodriguez, F. J. Rizzuto, D. S. Wright, Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24, 2013-2019
"Isomerisation, reactivity and coordination chemistry of a new hybrid, multi-functional phosphazane"
A. J. Plajer, K. Bold, F. J. Rizzuto, R. García-Rodríguez, T. K. Ronson, D. S. Wright, Dalton Trans. 2017, 46, 12775-12779
"A modular approach to inorganic phosphazane macrocycles"
A. J. Plajer, R. García‐Rodríguez, C. G. M. Benson, P. D. Matthews, A. D. Bond, S. Singh, L. H. Gade, D. S. Wright, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 9087-9090
"A versatile hard–soft N/S-ligand for metal coordination and cluster formation"
C. G. M. Benson, A. J. Plajer, R. García-Rodríguez, A. D. Bond, S. Singh, L. H. Gade, D. S. Wright, Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 9683-9686