Dr. Hongxu Liu is currently an associate professor at the College of Polymer Science and Engineering of Sichuan University (SCU) and a member of the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Zhengzhou University under the supervision of Prof. Junbiao Chang, where he worked on organic synthesis and synthetic methodology. He studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2016 and received his Ph.D. degree in 2021 under the direction of Prof. Sankaran Thayumanavan. His dissertation is “New Chemical Tools for the Design of Stimuli-Responsive Supramolecular Assemblies and Functional Polymers”. Prior to joining SCU in January 2023, he pursued postdoctoral research with Prof. Eric V. Anslyn at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on the specific labeling of peptides and the synthesis of degradable oligourethanes. Dr. Liu has coauthored 24 publications by July 2024, including papers in JACS, Progress in Polymer Science and Macromolecules.

Dr. Liu’s current research focuses on responsive polymeric materials and porous organic polymers, including: (1) New chemistry for the design of porous organic polymers (POPs), including introducing stimuli-responsive groups into POPs for controllable functions; (2) Developing new dynamic covalent chemistry for dynamic adaptable networks; (3) Designing and synthesizing stimuli-responsive amphiphilic macromolecules, and exploring fundamental questions/ mechanisms involved in their assembly and disassembly.

1. Liu, H.^#; Deol,  H.^#; Raeisbahrami, A.; Askari, H.; Wight, C. D.; Lynch, V. M.; Anslyn, E. V.* “A Method for Rigorously Selective Capture and Simultaneous Fluorescent Labeling of N-Terminal Glycine Peptides” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146(20), 13727–13732.

2. Liu, H.^#,*; Lu, H.-H. ^#; Alp, Y.; Wu, R.; Thayumanavan, S.* “Structural Determinants of Stimuli-Responsiveness in Amphiphilic Macromolecular Nano-assemblies” Prog. Polym. Sci. 2024, 148, 101765.

3. Liu, H.; Lu, H.-H; Jiaming Zhuang, Thayumanavan, S.* “Three-Component Dynamic Covalent Chemistry: From Janus Small Molecules to Functional Polymers” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143(49), 20735-20746.

4. Jing, A.; Cao, Z.; Zhou, J.; Liang, W.; Gong, X.; Sun, H.; Zeng, K.; Liu, H.*; Ren, S.* “Triazine-containing porous organic polymers from Diels-Alder reactions for efficient molecular adsorption and photocatalytic degradation” Polymer 2024, 300, 127014.

5. Wang, M.; Yu, C.; Sun, H.; Liu, H.*; Ren, S.* “Bottom-Up Synthesis of Nitrogen-Doped Graphynes for High-Performance Electrocatalysis in a Zn-Air Battery” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2024, 63(12), 5357-5366.

6. Liu, H.; Prachyathipsakul, T.; Koyasseril-Yehiya, T. M.; Le, S. P.; Thayumanavan, S.* “Molecular bases for temperature sensitivity in supramolecular assemblies and their applications as thermoresponsive soft materials” Mater. Horiz. 2022, 9(1), 164-193.

7. Jiang, Z.^#; Liu, H.^#; He, H.; Thayumanavan, S.* “Blended Assemblies of Amphiphilic Random and Block Copolymers for Tunable Encapsulation and Release of Hydrophobic Guest Molecules” Macromolecules 2020, 53(7), 2713-2723.

2021 Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research, Division of Polymer Chemistry, ACS

2016 Excellent Master Thesis of Henan Province, China

2016 Excellent Graduate of Henan Province, China

2015 National Scholarship for Graduate Students, China

2015 Excellence in Graduate Research Award, Zhengzhou University