Javier Read de Alaniz

Biography

Javier Read de Alaniz joined the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC, Santa Barbara in 2009. He served as Associate Director of the California NanoSystems Institute from 2015-2023 and is currently the Director of BioPACIFIC MIP, a position he began in 2020. Born and raised in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Javier received his B.S. degree from Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado) in 1999, where he conducted undergraduate research under the direction of Professor William R. Bartlett. He obtained his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Tomislav Rovis at Colorado State University in 2006, focusing on asymmetric catalysis. After completing his Ph.D., Javier moved to California, where he worked in the area of total synthesis with Professor Larry E. Overman at the University of California, Irvine. During that time, he received the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Research

Our research group is involved with a wide range of fundamental and applied chemistry that extends from the development of new synthetic transformations to the creation of a novel class of organic photochromic material. The overarching goal of our research is to develop robust and efficient synthetic approaches to chemical reactions for applications in materials science, as well as synthesis. Our highly interdisciplinary work can be broken down into three key research areas: (1) design and development of light-responsive materials (2) synthesis of well-defined and functionalized polymers and biomaterials and (3) studying new transformations promoted by earth abundant copper salts.

Selected Publications

“Self-regulating photochemical Rayleigh-Bénard convection using a highly-absorbing organic photoswitch” Seshadri, S.; Gockowski, L. F.; Lee, J.; Sroda, M.; Helgeson, M. E.; Read de Alaniz, J.; Valentine, M. T. Nature Comm., 2020, 11, 2599.

“Light-Controlled Ionic Conductivity in a Polymeric Ionic Liquid through Modulation of Cation-Anion Interactions” Nie, H.; Schauser N.; Dolinski, N.; Hu. J.; Hawker, C. J.; Segalman, R.; Read de Alaniz, J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 59, 5123–5128.

“Polymer stereocomplexation as a scalable platform for nanoparticle assembly” Abdilla, A.; Dolinski, N.; de Ross, P.; Ren, J.; van der Woude, E.; Seo, S.; Lawrence, J.; Read de Alaniz, J.; Hawker, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 1667–1672.

“Norbornadiene: Robust and Scalable Building Blocks for Cascade “Click” Coupling of High Molecular Weight Polymers” St. Amant, A.; Discekici, E.; Bailey, S.; Zayas, M.; Song, J-A.; Shankel, S.; Nguyen, S.; Bates, M.; Anastasaki, A.; Hawker, C.; Read de Alaniz, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 13619–13624.

“Multi-stimuli Responsive Trigger for Temporally Controlled Depolymeriztion of Self-Immolative Polymers” Nichol, M. F.; Clark, K. D.; Dolinski, N. D.; Read de Alaniz, J. Polymer Chemistry 2019, 10, 4914–4919.

“Multi-Addressable Photochromic Architectures: From Molecules to Materials” Nie, H.; Self, J. L.; Kuenstler, A. S.; Hayward, R. C.; Read de Alaniz, J. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2019, 7, 1900224.

“A Diene-Containing Noncanonical Amino Acid Enables Dual Functionality in Proteins: Rapid Diels–Alder Reaction with Maleimide or Proximity-Based Dimerization” St Amant, A.H.; Huang, F.; Lin, J.; Rickert, K.; Oganesyan, V.; Lemen, D.; Mao, S.; Harper, J.; Marelli, M.; Wu, H.; Gao, C.; Read de Alaniz, J.; Christie, R.J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 8489–8493.

“Controlling Dark Equilibria and Enhancing DASA Photoswitching Properties Through Carbon Acid Design” Hemmer, J. R.; Page, Z. A.; Clark, K. D.; Stricker, F.; Dolinski, N. D.; Hawker, C. J.; Read de Alaniz, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 10425–10429.

“Endo and Exo Diels–Alder Adducts: Temperature-Tunable Building Blocks for Selective Chemical Functionalization” Discekici, E. H.; St. Amant, A. H.; Nguyen, S. N.; Lee, I-H,; Hawker, C. J.; Read de Alaniz, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 5009–5013.

“Photoswitches Using Visible Light: A New Class of Organic Photochromic Molecules” Helmy, S.; Leibfarth, F. A.; Oh, S.; Poelma, J. E.; Hawker, C. J.; Read de Alaniz, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 8169–8172.