Stephen L Craig, William T. Miller Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Please note: Stephen has left the "Cardea Fellows Program" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

Research interests in Prof. Craig's group bridge physical organic and materials chemistry. Many of these interests are guided by the vision that important challenges in materials science might be better tackled not from the traditional perspective of an engineer, but rather from the molecular perspective of an organic chemist. Current interests include the design and synthesis of self-healing polymers and the use of modern mechanochemistry in new stress-responsive polymers, catalysis, and the study of transition states and reactive intermediates. These areas require an interdisciplinary and nontraditional mix of synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, single-molecule spectroscopy, supramolecular chemistry, and materials characterization. Research interests are complemented by numerous teaching and outreach activities, including: (1) hosting intensive undergraduate and high school research experiences for a diverse group of both Duke and non-Duke students; (2) exploiting effective, scalable, and low-cost mechanisms for content dissemination; (3) team-based and active learning content in the undergraduate and graduate classroom.

Contact Info: 

Office Location:	3221 French Family Science Cen, 124 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
Office Phone:	(919) 660-1538
Email Address:
Web Pages:	http://craiglab.chem.duke.edu https://sites.duke.edu/craiglab/

Teaching (Spring 2024):

• CHEM 531.01, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Synopsis

  FFSC 2237, MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

• CHEM 531.01, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Synopsis

  FFSC 2237, MW 08:30 AM-09:45 AM

Education:

Ph.D.	Stanford University	1997
M.Phil.	University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)	1992
B.S.	Duke University	1991

Specialties:

Organic
Physical
Nanoscience and Materials
Synthesis

Research Interests:

Research interests in Prof. Craig's group bridge physical organic and materials chemistry. Many of these interests are guided by the vision that important challenges in materials science might be better tackled not from the traditional perspective of an engineer, but rather from the molecular perspective of an organic chemist. Current interests include the design and synthesis of self-healing polymers and the use of modern mechanochemistry in new stress-responsive polymers, catalysis, and the study of transition states and reactive intermediates. These areas require an interdisciplinary and nontraditional mix of synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, single-molecule spectroscopy, supramolecular chemistry, and materials characterization. Research interests are complemented by numerous teaching and outreach activities, including: (1) hosting intensive undergraduate and high school research experiences for a diverse group of both Duke and non-Duke students; (2) exploiting effective, scalable, and low-cost mechanisms for content dissemination; (3) team-based and active learning content in the undergraduate and graduate classroom.

Keywords:

Bicyclo Compounds • Biocompatible Materials • Bridged Bicyclo Compounds • Catalysis • Cells, Cultured • Chemistry • Chemistry, Organic • Chemistry, Physical • Click Chemistry • Cyanoacrylates • Elasticity • Gels • Kinetics • Materials Testing • Mechanical Processes • Muser Mentor • Neural Networks (Computer) • Pattern Recognition, Automated • Tissue Scaffolds • Treatment Outcome

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

• Zach Kean  
• Junpeng Wang  
• Bobin Lee  
• Yifei Wang  
• Hope Klukovich  
• Ashley Black Ramirez  
• Jun Xu  
• Jennifer L. Hawk  
• Jason Whitehead  
• Farrell Kersey  
• Wayne Yount  

Postdocs Mentored

• Dr. David Courson (2011/12-present)  
• Zhenbin Niu (2011/12-present)  
• Dong Wu (2009 - 2010)  
• Dr. James Ogle (2008 - 2010)  
• Dr. Donghua Xu (2008 - 2011)  
• Dr. Nicholas Perch (2008-2009)  
• Sasha Korom (Research Associate) (2008-2009)  
• Ryan Jamiolkowski (Visiting Scientist) (2008)  
• Carolin Schaab (Visiting Scientist) (2008)  
• Dr. Michael Serpe (2006 -2009)  
• Dr. Sung Lan Jeon (2004 - 2008)  

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. Black, AL; Lenhardt, JM; Craig, SL, From molecular mechanochemistry to stress-responsive materials, Journal of Materials Chemistry, vol. 21 no. 6 (February, 2011), pp. 1655-1663, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), ISSN 0959-9428 [available here], [doi]  [abs]
2. Lenhardt, JM; Ogle, JW; Ong, MT; Choe, R; Martinez, TJ; Craig, SL, Reactive cross-talk between adjacent tension-trapped transition states., Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 133 no. 10 (March, 2011), pp. 3222-3225 [21341786], [doi]  [abs]
3. Wu, D; Lenhardt, JM; Black, AL; Akhremitchev, BB; Craig, SL, Molecular stress relief through a force-induced irreversible extension in polymer contour length., Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 132 no. 45 (November, 2010), pp. 15936-15938 [20977189], [doi]  [abs]
4. Lenhardt, JM; Ong, MT; Choe, R; Evenhuis, CR; Martinez, TJ; Craig, SL, Trapping a diradical transition state by mechanochemical polymer extension., Science (New York, N.Y.), vol. 329 no. 5995 (August, 2010), pp. 1057-1060 [20798315], [doi]  [abs]