Design and Synthesis of Conjugated Polymers

Mario Leclerc was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry from Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada, in 1987, under the guidance of Prof. R.E. Prud?homme. After a short post-doctoral stay at INRS-Energie et Matériaux near Montréal with professor L.H. Dao, he joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, in Mainz, Germany, as a post-doctoral fellow in the research group of Prof. Dr. G. Wegner. In 1989, he accepted a position of professor at the department of chemistry of Université de Montréal. He returned to Université Laval in 1998 where he holds since 2001 the Canada Research Chair on Electroactive and Photoactive Polymers. His current research activities include the synthesis and characterization of new conjugated oligomers and polymers for applications in micro- and nano-electronics, electro-optics, genomics, and proteomics.

Jean-François Morin is Assistant Professor at Université Laval in the Department of Chemistry. After his PhD in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Mario Leclerc, he went to the Tour group at Rice University in Houston, USA, as a post-doctoral research fellow and worked on the development of self-propelled nanomachines on surfaces. In 2006 he moved back to Laval where his current research activities include the synthesis and characterization of organic nanotubes, nanoscale machinery, n-type organic materials and rotaxane-based nanomaterials for surface modification.