Matthew Hannigan

POLYMER Chemistry

In polymer chemistry, the term structure can mean a variety of things: identity of the repeat unit, molecular weight, sequence, chirality, 3-dimensional shape… and so on. Most of these properties are set at the point of synthesis, and all of these will determine (to varying degrees) the function of a polymer and its performance in applications. Therefore, to develop polymers with specific properties for applications in structural, electronic, sensing, or high-performance materials, control over the synthesis of these polymers is vital. Many polymerization methods exist, but only very few (namely, living chain-growth polymerizations) enable control over all or most of these aspects of polymer structure.

My group is focused on addressing this gap by expanding the number and scope of controlled polymerizations. We do this by developing new organic and organometallic methodologies for synthesizing polymers, sometimes based on small molecule reactivity and sometimes based on known polymerizations that we adapt to new monomer systems. Students in my group will focus primarily on cross coupling-based methodologies for forming C–C bonds and C–N bonds to access aliphatic polymers, conjugated polymers and chiral polymers of any sort. Once this is established, we will use the new methodologies to access previously inaccessible materials, study structure-function relationships that haven’t been explored before, and use these new materials in devices for optoelectronic, pharmaceutical, and engineering applications.

Dhungel, B.; Klopfenstein, M.; Keer, A. V.; Hannigan, M. D.; Monroe, S. L.; Garber, J. M.; Rodriguez, W.; Lee, S. S.; Weck, M.* Strain, Chain, Repeat: Synthesis and Optoelectronic Properties of Poly(Naphthalene Benzene Vinylene)s.  ACS Macro Lett. 2026, ASAP: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.6c00194

Hannigan, M. D.; Sampson, J. A.; Damaraju, L.; Weck, M.* Homochiral Helical Poly(thiophene)s Accessed via Living Catalyst-Transfer Polymerization. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64,e202502104.https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202502104

Mann, A. S.; Hannigan, M. D.; Dumlao, B. L.; Hu, C. T.;  Weck, M.* Bent and Twisted: Synthesis of an Alkoxy-Substituted (1,5)-Naphthalene-paracyclophanediene. J. Org. Chem. 2023, 88, 12971–12977. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.3c00880

Hannigan, M. D.; Tami, J. L.; Zimmerman, P. M.;* McNeil, A. J.* Rethinking Catalyst Trapping in Ni-Catalyzed Polymerization of Thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes. Macromolecules 2022, 55, 10821–10830.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01521

Hannigan, M. D.;McNeil, A. J.; Zimmerman, P. M.* Using J_PP to Identify Ni Bidentate Phosphine Complexes In Situ. Inorg. Chem. 2021, 60, 13400–13408. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01720

Curtis, E. R.; Hannigan, M. D.; Vitek, A. K.; Zimmerman, P. M.* Quantum Investigation of Dimerization in the Schlenk Equilibrium of Thiophene Grignard Reagents. J. Phys. Chem. A2020, 124, 1480-1488. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b09985

Lutz, J. P.; Hannigan, M. D.; McNeil, A. J.* Polymers Synthesized via Catalyst-Transfer Polymerization and their Applications. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2018, 376, 225–247.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2018.07.015  

Wright, A. J.; Nasralla, H. H.; Deshmukh, R.; Jamalzadeh, M.; Hannigan, M. D., Patera, A.; Li, Y.; Manzo-Perez, M.; Parashar, N.; Huang, Z.; Udumulla, T.; Chen, W.; De Forni, D.; Weck, M.; De Peppo, G. M.; Riedo, E.;* Shahrjerdi, D.* Nanoscale-Localized Multiplexed Biological Activation of Field Effect Transistors for Biosensing Applications. Nanoscale 2024, 16, 19620–19632. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NR02535K

Wang, C.; Mann, A. ; Hannigan, M. D.; Garvey, R.; Dumlao, B. L., Weck, M.* Folded Well-Defined 3D Architecture from Synthetic Helical and Sheet-Like Polymers. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 34, 2313734. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202313734

Mann, A. S.; Hannigan, M. D.; Dumlao, B. L.; Hu, C. T.; Weck, M.* Bent and Twisted: Synthesis of an Alkoxy-Substituted (1,5)-Naphthalene-paracyclophanediene. J. Org. Chem. 2023, 88, 12971–12977. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.3c00880

Mann, A. S.; Hannigan, M. D.; Weck, M.* Cyclophanediene and Cyclophanetriene-Based Conjugated Polymers. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2023, 224, 2200397. https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202200397

Hannigan, M. D.; Tami, J. L.; Zimmerman, P. M.;* McNeil, A. J.* Rethinking Catalyst Trapping in Ni-Catalyzed Polymerization of Thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes. Macromolecules 2022, 55, 10821–10830.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.2c01521

Hannigan, M. D.; McNeil, A. J.; Zimmerman, P. M.* Using JPP to Identify Ni Bidentate Phosphine
Complexes In Situ. Inorg. Chem. 2021, 60, 13400–13408. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01720
4) Kubo, T.; Young, M. S.; Souther, K. D.; Hannigan, M. D.; McNeil, A. J.* Air-Tolerant Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Synthesis via Catalyst-Transfer Polymerization. J. Polym. Sci. A - Polym. Chem. 2021, 59, 268–273. https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.20200788

Curtis, E. R.; Hannigan, M. D.; Vitek, A. K.; Zimmerman, P. M.* Quantum Investigation of Dimerization in the Schlenk Equilibrium of Thiophene Grignard Reagents. J. Phys. Chem. A 2020, 124, 1480-1488. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b09985

Lutz, J. P.; Davydovich, O.; Hannigan, M. D.; Moore, J. S.; Zimmerman, P. M.; McNeil, A. J.* Functionalized and Degradable Polyphthalaldehyde Derivatives. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 14544–14548. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b07508

Lutz, J. P.; Hannigan, M. D.; McNeil, A. J.* Polymers Synthesized via Catalyst-Transfer Polymerization and their Applications. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2018, 376, 225–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2018.07.015

NYU Trailblazer Postdoctoral Fellowship, New York University, 2026

ACS Award for Leadership in the Promotion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect, 2024

Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship, Arnold and Mable Beckman Foundation, 2023

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, US Department of Defense, 2017

Rackham Merit Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan,  2016

Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Stony Brook University Chemistry, 2016

URECA Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Stony Brook University, 2015