BSc, Analytical & Environmental Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
MSc/PhD in Organometallic Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Advisor: Prof. N. G. Lemcoff)
Postdoc, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey S. Moore)
Dr. Diesendruck’s research is focused on the resurgent field of “mechanochemistry,” which can be defined as the use of mechanical stress to induce chemical transformations. Mechanochemistry relies on multiple disciplines of chemistry, such as theoretical modeling to predict mechanochemical transformations, synthetic chemistry to tune the molecular structure according to an intended design, analytical chemistry to measure the transformations at the single molecule level, physical-organic chemistry to understand the reaction mechanism, and materials and polymer science to examine the macroscopic properties of novel materials.
Because many materials that we encounter in our daily lives are polymeric in nature and subject to mechanical stress, a common theme in mechanochemistry is the desire to produce materials that respond when damaged by outside forces, either by reporting the damage, self-reinforcing or even regenerating. Such systems may one day find widespread application in smart materials, where the loss of properties due to aging or mechanical damage is reversed or even eliminated, subsequently extending the lifetime of materials, increasing safety of materials in transportation, decreasing the amount of waste, and making recycling much simpler.
Dr. Diesendruck has also established a program focused on the development of innovative chemical transformations that might help expedite the production of new polymer materials with tunable properties. The development of novel reaction pathways can be transformative not only to polymer chemists, but to the entire synthetic chemistry community
