Johnathan N. Brantley
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Johnathan N. Brantley
Associate Professor
John began his academic career at Western Kentucky University, where he completed a B.S. degree in 2010. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Christopher Bielawski at the University of Texas at Austin. During his graduate career, John developed new tools to understand how chemical transformations within polymeric matrices are facilitated by the action of mechanical force. Following the completion of his Ph.D. in 2014, John began his postdoctoral studies under the guidance of Professor Dean Toste at the University of California, Berkeley. During his tenure at Berkeley, John explored the synthesis and reactivity of trifluoromethyl iodonium salts. He joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in 2017.
Education
B.S., Western Kentucky University (2010)
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin (2014)
Research
Research efforts in the Brantley group focus on addressing chemical problems at the interface of materials science and synthetic methodology. Specifically, we envision new strategies for transforming reactive species into materials or chemical scaffolds that are challenging synthetic targets. We are particularly interested in accessing functional polymers that exhibit tunable structures and physical properties. The development of novel organometallic species, and investigating their applications in both synthesis and materials science, is another exciting area of focus. Our program integrates elements of physical organic chemistry, polymer science, synthesis, and organometallic chemistry to address both fundamental and applied problems. As such, the group’s interdisciplinary approach to discovery provides burgeoning scientists at all stages of career development with an invaluable skill set.
Awards
American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award
NSF Graduate Fellow
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow
Selected Publications
Fried, A. D.; Wilson, B. J.; Galan, N. J.; Brantley, J. N. Electroediting of Soft Polymer Backbones. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 8885-8891.
Jacobs, B. P.; Brantley, J. N. Exploring Combinatorial Approaches to Polymer Diversification. Macromolecules 2020, 53, 9287.
Galan, N. J.; Brantley, J. N. General Access to Allene-Containing Polymers using the Skattebøl Rearrangement. ACS Macro Lett. 2020, 9, 1662.
Fried, A. D.; Brantley, J. N. Controlled Polymerization of b-Pinadiene: Accessing Unusual Polymer Architectures with Biomass-Derived Monomers. ACS Macro Lett. 2020, 9, 595.
Wilson, B. J.; Brantley, J. N. Synthesis and Reactivity of Metallocarbene-Containing Polymers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12453.