Our research is centered on the discovery and development of new chemistry to synthesize polymers, block copolymers, and materials having structural sophistication and definition comparable to natural counterparts such as nucleic acids and proteins. We utilize modern advances in synthetic organic and polymer chemistry for building polymers and block copolymers having well-defined structures,functions, and the ability to respond to stimuli and self-assemble into complex nanostructures. One of our major research goals is to understand the role of the chemical structures of polymers and block copolymers in their self-assembly in solution and in condensed phase. Recently, we are working on to understand the structure-morphology relationship of the inverse mesophases of block copolymers in solution. We expect that this effort will lead us to new synthetic methods for the well-defined 3-D crystalline porous polymer structures having the desired periodicity and lattice

• Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2006
• M.S., Inha University, 2001
• B.S., Inha University, 1998

• Associate Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, 2014-2015
• Assistant Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, 2010-2014
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, 2008-2010
• Senior Researcher, Semiconductor R&D Center, Samsung Electronics, 2006-2007

1. “Iterative Convergent Synthesis of Large Cyclic Polymers and Block Copolymers with Discrete Molecular Weights.” M. B. Koo, S. W. Lee, J. M. Lee, K. T. Kim, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 14028-14032.
2. “High-Density Information Storage in an Absolutely Defined Aperiodic Sequence of Monodisperse Copolyester.” J. M. Lee, M. B. Koo, S. W. Lee, H. Lee, J. Kwon, Y. H. Shim, S. Y. Kim, K. T. Kim, Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 56.
3. “Polymer Cubosomes: Infinite Cubic Mazes and Possibilities.” S. Ha, Y. La, K. T. Kim, Acc. Chem. Res. 2020, 53, 620-631.
4. “Templated Synthesis of Cubic Crystalline Single Networks Having Large Open-Space Lattices by Polymer Cubosomes”, Y. La, J. Song, M. G. Jeong, A. Cho, S.-M. Jin, E. Lee, K. T. Kim, Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 5327.
5. “Mesoporous Monoliths of Inverse Bicontinuous Cubic Phases of Block Copolymer Bilayers.” C. Park, Y. La, T. H. An, H. Y. Jeong, S. Kang, S. H. Joo, H. Ahn, T. J. Shin, K. T. Kim, Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 6392.
6. “Colloidal Bicontinuous Cubic Membranes of Block Copolymers with Tunable Surface Functional Groups.” Y. La, C. Park, T. J. Shin, S. H. Joo, S. Kang, K. T. Kim, Nat. Chem. 2014, 6, 534-541.