Publications

Luo, X.; Kim, Y. M.; Jiang, N.; Shi, Y.; Ko, K.; Guo, K.; Johnson, J. A.; Xia, Y*. "Effects of a Small Fraction of Norbornene Comonomers on the Frontal Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Dicyclopentadiene and Dihydrofuran." Macromolecules. 2026 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.6c01604.

J. Y. Yeo, B. C. Tapia, F. M. Benedetti, A. M. Robinson, J. Richardson, B. J. Pedretti, T. H. Lee, B. D. Freeman, Y. Xia, Z. P. Smith* “Ultra-selective CANAL Polymers for Hydrogen-based Membrane Separations after Long-Term Aging” J. Membr. Sci. 2025, 742, 125038.

N. Willis‐Fox,* M. Horst, E. Rognin, Y. Xia, R. Daly* “Using Long‐Chain Polymechanophores to Explore the Differences in Mechanoactivation During Nozzle Flow and Ultrasonication” Adv. Func. Mater. 2026, 36, e28952

Lee, D. L.#; Flear, E. J.#; Xu, R.; Zheng, K.; Martínez, T. J.; Xia, Y.* “Cascade Mechanochemical Transformation of a Benzobarrelane Polymer” 
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 39047.
# equal contribution 

Hansen, M. E.; Xia, Y.* “Unidirectional Chain Transfer of Enol Ethers Yields Heterotelechelic Degradable Poly(Enol Ether)” 
ACS Macro Lett. 2025, 14, 1492. 

Horst, M.; Bhat, V.; Xia, Y.* "Polymer Mechanochemistry: Where Is It Going?"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 30529.

Lee, Y. J.; Robinson, A. M.; Jang, W. J.; Ye, Z.; Ren, Y.; Xia, Y.*; Lively, R. P.* 
"Prediction-driven selection of microporous polymer membranes for organic solvent reverse osmosis" 
J. Membr. Sci. 2025, 734, 124475.​
Editor's Choice

Barker, K. P.; Horne, J.; Lou, J.; Xia, Y.;* Qin, J.* "Molecular Weight-Driven Partitioning of Polyelectrolytes During Complexation" 
Macromolecules 2025, 58, 6249.

Luo, X.#; Kim, Y.M.#; Lee, M.J. Mejia, E.B.; Shi, Y.; Sottos, N.R.; Baur, J.W.; Xia, Y.* 
"Multi‐Generational Frontal Curing and Chemical Recycling of Polydicyclopentadiene Thermosets"
Adv. Mater. 2025, 2505141.
# equal contribution 

Bhat, V.; Xia, Y.* "Revealing Mechanochemical Force Distributions with Polymechanophore Block Copolymers"​
ACS Macro Lett. 2025, 14, 716.

Zhu, Y.; Zheng, K.; Wei, Z.; Xia, Y.*; Petrukhina, M.A.* "Probing Effects of Electron Addition to Polycyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons Containing Four-Membered Rings"
ChemistryEurope, 2025, 2500047.

Yeo, J.Y.; Benedetti, F.M.; Pedretti, B.J.; Robinson, A.M.; Yin, R.; Lai, H.W.H. Lee, T.H.; Xia, Y.; Smith, Z. P.* "Investigation of competitive sorption and plasticization of hyperaged CANAL ladder polymers for acid gas purification" J. Membr. Sci. 2025, 726, 123973.

Cárdenas, A.; Jin, Z.; Ni, Y.; Wu, J.; Xia, Y.*; Ramírez, F. J.*; Casado, J.* "Oxidation of [3]naphthylenes to cations and dications converts local paratropicity into global diatropicity"​
Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 277.

Horst, M.; Holm, S.; Velanta, L.; Kouznetsova, T. B.; Yang, J.; Burns, N. Z.; Craig, S. L.; Martínez, T. J.*; Xia, Y.* "Fluorination Affects the Force Sensitivity and Nonequilibrium Dynamics of the Mechanochemical Unzipping of Ladderanes"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 32651.

Robinson, A.; Ka, D.; Zheng, X.*; Xia, Y.* "Perfluoroalkyl-Functionalized HTPB Improves the Mechanical and Combustion Performance of Boron/HTPB Composites as Solid Fuel" 
ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2024, 6, 12654.

Zheng, K.; Yang, J.; Luo, X.; Xia, Y.* "High Molecular Weight Semicrystalline Substituted Polycyclohexene From Alternating Copolymerization of Butadiene and Methacrylate and Its Ambient Depolymerization"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 25321.

Flear, E. J.; Horst, M.; Yang, J.; Xia, Y.* "Force Transduction Through Distant Force-Bearing Regioisomeric Linkages Affects the Mechanochemical Reactivity of Cyclobutane"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202406103 Hot Paper

Starvaggi, F. A.; Suslick, B. A.; Xia, Y.* "Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Cyclooctadiene and Cyclooctene with Dihydrofuran: Influence of Ru Fischer Carbene"
ACS Macro Lett. 2024, 13, 296

Robinson, A.; Xia, Y.* "Regioisomeric Spirobifluorene CANAL Ladder Polymers and Their Gas Separation Performance" 
ACS Macro Lett. 2024, 13, 118.

Horst, M.; Meisner, J.; Yang, J.; Kouznetsova, T. B.; Craig, S. L.*; Martínez, T. J.*; Xia, Y.* "Mechanochemistry of Pterodactylane"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 13, 296.

Leem, J.; Jiang, Y.; Robinson, A.; Xia, Y.*; Zheng, X.* "Tailoring the mechanical and combustion performance of B/HTPB composite solid fuel with covalent interfaces" Compos Sci Technol. 2023, 245, 110350.

Leem, J.; Jiang, Y.; Robinson, A.; Xia, Y.; Zheng, X.* "Data-Driven Approach to Tailoring Mechanical Properties of a Soft Material" Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023, 33, 2304451.

Yang, J.; Xia, Y.* "Force-Triggered Guest Release from Mechanophore Incorporated Rotaxanes"
CCS Chemistry 2023, 5, 1365.

SM Hull, J Lou, CD Lindsay, RS Navarro, B Cai, LG Brunel, AD Westerfield, Y Xia, SC Heilshorn* "3D bioprinting of dynamic hydrogel bioinks enabled by small molecule modulators" Sci. Adv. 2023, 9, eade7880.

Lou, J.*; Xia, Y.* "Using Competitor Molecules to Reversibly Modulate the Mechanical Properties of Viscoelastic Hydrogels" 
ACS Macro Lett. 2022, 11, 1312.

Davydovich, O.; Paul, J. E.; Feist, J. D.; Aw, J. E.; Balta Bonner, F. J.; Lessard, J. J.; Tawfick, S.; Xia, Y.; Sottos, N. R.; Moore, J. S.* “Frontal Polymerization of Dihydrofuran Comonomer Facilitates Thermoset Deconstruction” Chem. Mater. 2022, 34, 8790.

Hazazi, K.; Wang, Y. Bettahalli, NMS.; Ma, X.; Xia, Y., Pinnau, I.* “Catalytic arene-norbornene annulation (CANAL) ladder polymer derived carbon membranes with unparalleled hydrogen/carbon dioxide size-sieving capability” 
J. Membr. Sci. 2022, 654, 120548.

Baek, J.; Jiang, Y.; Demko, A. R.; Jimenez-Thomas, A. R.; Vallez, L.; Ka, D.; Xia, Y.; Zheng, X.*  “Effect of Fluoroalkylsilane Surface Functionalization on Boron Combustion” 
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 20190.

Yin, X.;# Zheng, K.;# Jin, Z.; Horst, M.; Xia, Y.* "Synthesis of Contorted Polycyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons via Regioselective Activation of Cyclobutadienoids"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 12715.
# equal contribution

Lai, H. W. H.; Benedetti, F. M.; Ahn, J. M.; Robinson, A. M.; Wang, Y.; Pinnau, I.; Smith, Z. P.*; Xia, Y.* “Hydrocarbon Ladder Polymers with Ultrahigh Permselectivity for Membrane Gas Separations” 
Science 2022, 375, 1390.

Perspective from Prof. Budd "Sieving gases with twisty polymers"

Feist, J.D.; Lee, D. C.; Xia, Y.* "A versatile approach for the synthesis of degradable polymers via controlled ring-opening metathesis copolymerization" 
Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 53.

Lou, J.; Friedowitz, S.; Karis, W.; Qin, J.*; Xia, Y.*; "Predictably Engineering the Viscoelastic Behavior of Dynamic Hydrogels via Correlation with Molecular Parameters" 
Adv. Mater. 2021, 2104460.

Friedowitz, S.#; Lou, J.#; Barker, K. P.; Karis, W.; Xia, Y.*; Qin, J.* "Looping-in complexation and ion partitioning in nonstoichiometric polyelectrolyte mixtures"
Sci. Adv. 2021, 7, eabg8654.

Horst, M.; Yang, J.; Meisner, J.; Kouznetsova, T. B.; Martínez, T. J.*; Craig, S. L.*; Xia, Y.* "Understanding the Mechanochemistry of Ladder-Type Cyclobutane Mechanophores by Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 12328.
Highlighted in JACS Spotlights

Jiang, Y.; Yilmaz, N. E. D.; Barker, K. P.; Baek, J.; Xia, Y.*; Zheng, X.* "Enhancing Mechanical and Combustion Performance of Boron/Polymer Composites via Boron Particle Functionalization"
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 28908.

Yang, J.; Xia, Y.* “Mechanochemical generation of acid-degradable poly(enol ether)s” 
Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 4389.
(part of the themed collection: Celebrating 10 years of Chemical Science)

Elling, B. R.; Su, J. K.; Xia, Y.* “Polymerization of Cyclopropenes: Taming the Strain for the Synthesis of Controlled and Sequence-Regulated Polymers”
Acc. Chem. Res. 2021, 54, 356.

Boswell, B. R.; Mansson, C. M. F.; Cox, J. M.; Jin, Z.; Romaniuk, J. A. H.; Lindquist, K. P.; Cegelski, L.; Xia, Y.*, Lopez, S. A.*; Burns, N. Z.* “Mechanochemical synthesis of an elusive fluorinated polyacetylene”
Nat. Chem. 2021, 13, 41.

Yang, J.; Horst, M.; Werby, S. H.; Cegelski, L.; Burns, N. Z.; Xia, Y.* “Bicyclohexene-peri-naphthalenes: Scalable Synthesis, Diverse Functionalization, Efficient Polymerization, and Facile Mechanoactivation of Their Polymers”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 14619.

Su, J. K.; Lee, S. Y.; Elling, B. R.; Xia, Y.* “Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of 1, 1-Disubstituted 1-Methylcyclopropenes”
Macromolecules 2020, 53, 5833.

Leibham, A. M.; Xia, Y.* "Catalytic Arene (oxa) Norbornene Annulation (CANAL)"
Trends Chem. 2020, 2, 680. (Mechanism of the Month)

Ma, X.; Lai, H. W. H.; Wang, Y.; Alhazmi, A. Xia, Y.*; Pinnau, I.* "Facile Synthesis and Study of Microporous Catalytic Arene-Norbornene Annulation–Tröger’s Base Ladder Polymers for Membrane Air Separation"
ACS Macro Lett. 2020, 9, 680.

Elling, B. R.; Su, J. K.; Xia, Y.* “Degradable Polyacetals/Ketals from Alternating Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization”
ACS Macro Lett. 2020, 9, 180.

Feist, J. D.; Xia, Y.* “Enol Ethers Are Effective Monomers for Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization: Synthesis of Degradable and Depolymerizable Poly(2,3-dihydrofuran)”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 1186.
Highlighted in JACS Spotlights

Chen, Z.; Zhu, X.; Yang, J.; Mercer, J. A. M.; Burns, N. Z.; Martinez, T. J.*; Xia, Y.* “The Cascade Unzipping of Ladderane Reveals Dynamic Effects in Mechanochemistry” (link for free pdf)
Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 302.

Su, J. K.; Jin, Z.; Zhang, R.; Lu, G.; Liu, P.*; Xia, Y.* "Tuning the Reactivity of Cyclopropenes from Living ROMP to Single Addition and AROMP via Simple Substituents"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 17771.

Teo, Y. C.; Lai, H. W. H.; Xia, Y.* "Arm-Degrable Star Polymers with Crosslinked Ladder-Motif Cores as a Route to Soluble Microporous Nanoparticles"
Polym. Chem. 2020, 11, 265. (invited for the emerging investigators issue)

Elling, B. R.; Su, J. K.; Feist, J. D.; Xia, Y.* “Precise Placement of Single Monomer Units in Living Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization” (link for free pdf)
Chem 2019, 5, 2691.

Preview by Prof. Hawker et al: "Placing Functionality Where You Want: The Allure of Sequence Control"
C&EN highlight: "New method places single, specific monomers in polymer chains" 

Lai, H. W. H.; Benedetti, F. M.; Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Wu, A. X.; De Angelis, M. G.; Smith, Z. P.*; Xia, Y.* “Tuning the Molecular Weights, Chain Packing, and Gas-Transport Properties of CANAL Ladder Polymers by Short Alkyl Substitutions”
Macromolecules 2019, 52, 6294.

Yang, J.; Horst, M.; Romaniuk, J. A. H.; Jin, Z.; Cegelski, L.; Xia, Y.* "Benzoladderene Mechanophores: Synthesis, Polymerization, and Mechanochemical Transformation"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 6479.

JACS Spotlights "May the (Mechanical) Force Be with You"

Abdulhamid, M. A.; Lai, H. W. H.; Wang, Y.; Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Ma, X.; Pinnau, I.*; Xia, Y.* “Microporous Polyimides from Ladder Diamines Synthesized by Facile Catalytic Arene-Norbornene Annulation as High-Performance Membranes for Gas Separation” 
Chem. Mater. 2019, 31, 1767.

Lou, J.; Friedowitz, S.; Qin, J.*; Xia, Y.* “Tunable Coacervation of Well-Defined Homologous Polyanions and Polycations by Local Polarity”
ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5, 549.

Jin, Z.; Yao, Z.-F.; Barker, K. P.; Pei, J.*; Xia, Y.* "Dinaphthobenzo[1,2:4,5] dicyclobutadienes: Antiaromatic and Orthogonally Tunable Electronics and Packing"
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 2034.

Teo, Y. C.; Xia, Y.* "Facile Synthesis of Macromonomers via ATRP–Nitroxide Radical Coupling and Well-Controlled Brush Block Copolymers"
Macromolecules 2019, 52, 81.

Su, J. K.; Feist, J. D.; Yang, J.; Mercer, J. A. M.; Romaniuk, J. A. H.; Chen, Z.; Cegelski, L.; Burns, N. Z.; Xia, Y.* 
"Synthesis and Mechanochemical Activation of Ladderene-Norbornene Block Copolymers" 
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 12388.

Nam, S.; Stowers, R.; Lou, J.; Xia, Y., Chaudhuri, O.* “Varying PEG density to control stress relaxation in alginate-PEG hydrogels for 3D cell culture studies”
Biomaterials 2019, 200, 15.

Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Teat, S. J.; Xia, Y.* “Iterative Synthesis of Edge-Bent [3]Naphthylene” 
Syn. Lett. 2018, 29, 2547. (invited for the cluster Synthesis of Materials)

Teo, Y. C.; Jin, Z.; Xia, Y.* “Synthesis of Cyclobutadienoid-Fused Phenazines with Strongly Modulated Degrees of Antiaromaticity”
Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 3300.

Elling, B. R.; Xia, Y.* “Efficient and Facile End Group Control of Living Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymers via Single Addition of Functional Cyclopropenes”
ACS Macro Lett. 2018, 7, 656.

Lou, J.; Liu, F.; Lindsay, C. D.; Chaudhuri, O.; Heilshorn, S. C.; Xia, Y.* “Dynamic Hyaluronan Hydrogels with Temporally Modulated High Injectability and Stability Using a Biocompatible Catalyst”
Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1705215.

Lou, J.; Stowers, R.; Nam, S.; Xia, Y.*, Chaudhuri, O.* “Stress Relaxing Hyaluronic Acid-Collagen Hydrogels Promote Cell Spreading, Fiber Remodeling, and Focal Adhesion Formation in 3D Cell Culture”
Biomaterials 2018, 154, 213.

Wan, H., Yue, J., Zhu, S., Uno, T., Zhang, X., Yang, Q., Yu, K., Hong, G., Wang, J., Li, L., Ma, Z., Gao, H., Zhong, Y., Su, J., Antaris, A. L., Xia, Y., Luo, J., Liang, Y., Dai, H.* “A bright organic NIR-II nanofluorophore for three-dimensional imaging into biological tissues” Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 1171.

Lai, H. W. H.; Teo, Y. C.; Xia, Y.* “Functionalized Rigid Ladder Polymers from Catalytic Arene-Norbornene Annulation Polymerization”
ACS Macro Lett. 2017, 6, 1357.

Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Teat, S. J.; Xia, Y.* “Regioselective Synthesis of [3]Naphthylenes and Tuning of Their Antiaromaticity”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 15933.
 

Streamlined and regioselective synthesis of a series of unprecedented [3]naphthylenes, where 3 naphthalenoids are fused through 2 cyclobutadienoids in linear, angular, and bent regio-connectivity. The fusion pattern strongly affected the local antiaromaticity and aromaticity of these compounds, reflected in their distinct optoelectronic properties and bonding structures.

Teo, Y. C.; Lai, H. W. H.; Xia, Y.* "Synthesis of Ladder Polymers: Developments, Challenges, and Opportunities"
Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 14101. (invited Review/Concept article)

Chen, Z.; Mercer, J. A. M.; Zhu, X.; Romaniuk, J. A. H.; Pfattner, R.; Cegelski, L.; Martinez, T. J.* Burns, N. Z.*; Xia, Y.* "Mechanochemical unzipping of insulating polyladderene to semiconducting polyacetylene"
Science, 2017, 357, 475.

Artistically rendered segment of a synthetic macromolecular ladder scaffold, inspired by a natural product structure, that unzips through ring-opening in response to mechanical force. The ensuing mechanochemical metamorphosis of the insulating polyladderene structure into semiconducting polyacetylene nanowires rapidly transforms the material's intrinsic properties and functions. 

Commentary from Prof. Steve Craig and Prof. Sam Thomas
Highlights
"Sound switches material from insulator to semiconductor" Nature.com
"Ultrasonic vibrations force a polymer to be a semiconductor" Phys.org
"Polyladderenes unzip to form semiconducting polymers" C&EN

Lai, H. W. H.; Liu, S.; Xia, Y.* "Norbornyl benzocyclobutene ladder polymers: Conformation and microporosity"
J. Polym. Sci. A Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 3075. (invited for a special issue on the celebration of 75th birthday of Prof. Bob Grubbs) 
Highlighted in Synfacts

Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Zulaybar, N. G.; Smith, M. D.; Xia, Y.* "Streamlined Synthesis of Polycyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbons Containing Cyclobutadienoids via C–H Activated Annulation and Aromatization"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 1806.
Highlighted in Synfacts

Elling, B. R.; Su, J. K.; Xia, Y.* "Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of 1,2-Disubstituted Cyclopropenes" 
Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 9097. (invited for 2016 Emerging Investigators issue)

Teo, Y. C.; Xia, Y.* "Importance of Macromonomer Quality in the Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Macromonomers"
Macromolecules 2015, 48, 5656.

Elling, B. R.; Xia, Y.* "Living Alternating Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization Based on Single Monomer Additions"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 9922.

JACS Spotlights "Proper Substituents Key to Creating Alternating Sequence Polymers"

Liu, S.; Jin, Z.; Teo, Y. C.; Xia, Y.* “Efficient Synthesis of Rigid Ladder Polymers via Palladium Catalyzed Annulation”
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 17434.