Publications from the Niu Research Group
55. Luzel B., Kouider S., D’Agosto F., Gigmes D., Lansalot M., Bates C. M., Ackerman E., Labalme S., Johnson J. A., Niu J. Nicolas J., Guillaneuf Y.*, Lefay C.* "Degradable Vinyl-Based Polymers by Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization: A User Guide" ACS Polym. Au. 2026, ASAP.
54. Mulay P.B.#, Radford D.C.#, Rondon B., Favetta B., Schuster B.S., Niu J.*, Gormley A.J.* "Gene Delivery Mediated by Backbone-Degradable RAFT Copolymers" Biomacromolecules. 2026, 27, 1846−1856.
53. Sockett, K. A.#, Jiang, N.-C.#, Ungolan, P., Niu, J.*, Grinstaff, M. W.* "Advancements in Hyaluronic Acid Synthetic Methodologies and Their Translational Relevance" Chem. Rev. 2026. 126, 3224−3286.
52. Yuan, Y.; He, J.; Ganguly, T.; Zhang, Y.; Rondon, B.; Liu, J.; Ranathunga, H.; Wang, M.-C.; Santoro, J.; Wang, J.; Byers, J. A.; Niu, J.*; Zhong, M.*; Wang, D.* "Compatibilization of Polyolefin Blends through Acid−BaseInteractions" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026. 148, 5634−5641.
51. Liu, C.; Liu, X.; Deng, Y.; Niu, J.* "Chemical Strategies for Controlling Sulfation in Biomacromolecules" ACS Chem. Biol. 2026. 21, 189−209.
50. Jiang, N.-C.; Deng, Y.; Fan, J.; Loffredo, M.; Zhang, M.; Easton, C.; Grinstaff, M. W.; Niu, J.* "A General Approach to Stereoregular Pseudo-Polysaccharides: Cationic Ring-Opening Polymerization of Monosaccharide Cyclic Thionocarbonates" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 847-856.
49. Zhou Z.; Wang Y.; Lo W.-S.; Giardino G.J.; Lalit K.; Goldstein M.; Wang W.; Fields C.; Barney A.; Tsung C.-K.; Mohanty U.; Huang W.*; Niu J.*"Processive ring-opening metathesis polymerization of low ring strain cycloalkenes via molecularly confined catalyst" Nat. Commun. 2025, 16, 8738.
48. Zhou Z.; Pham Q.; Giardino G.J.; Chatterjee A.; Niu J.* "3,6-Anhydrogalactal as a Single-Addition Monomer for Chain-End Functionalization of Metathesis Polymers" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 16754−16759.
47. Giardino G.J.; Niu J.* "Metathesis Depolymerization of a Fluorogenic Self-Immolative Polymer" ACS Macro Lett. 2025, 14, 558−563.
46. Su-Tobon Q.; Fan J.; Goldstein M.; Feeney K.; Ren H.; Autissier P.; Wang P.; Huang Y.; Mohanty U.; Niu J.* "CRISPR-Hybrid: A CRISPR-Mediated Intracellular Directed Evolution Platform for RNA Aptamers." Nat. Commun. 2025, 16 (1), 595.
45. Thompson, W. J.; Kankanamalage, B. K. P. M.; Thaggard, G. C.; Park, K. C.; Martin, C. R.; Niu, J.; Byers, J. A.*; Shustova, N. B. * "Catalytically Active Site Mapping Realized through Energy Transfer Modeling." Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, e202416695.
44. Rondon, B.#; Ungolan, P.#; Wu, L.; Niu, J.* "Chemically Recyclable Pseudo-Polysaccharides from Living Ring-Opening Polymerization of Glucurono-1,6-lactones." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 21868-21876.
43. Park, K.S.; Cha, H.; Niu, J.; Soh, H.T.; Lee, J.H.; Pack, S.P.* "DNA-controlled Protein Fluorescence: Design of aptamer-split peptide hetero-modulator for GFP to respond to intracellular ATP level." Nucleic Acids Res. 2024, gkae532.
42. Giardino, G.; Wang, H.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* “From Technical Lignin to Native Lignin: Depolymerization, Functionalization, and Applications.” (Minireview) Chem. Phys. Rev. 2024, 5, 021302. Featured by Scilight.
41. Wu, L.#; Chowdhury, A.#; Zhou, Z.; Chen, K.; Wang, W.; Niu, J.* “Precision Cellulose from Living Cationic Polymerization of Glucose 1,2,4-Orthopivalates.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 7963-7970.
40. Jiang, N.-C.; Zhou, Z.; Niu, J.* “Quantitative, Regiospecific, and Stereoselective Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization of Monosaccharide Cyclic Ketene Acetals.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 5056-5062.
39. Li, F.; Li, E.; Samanta, K.; Zheng, Z.; Wu, L.; Chen. A. D.; Farha, O.; Staples, R.; Niu, J.*; Schmidt-Rohr, K.*; Ke, C.* “Ortho-Alkoxy-benzamide Directed Formation of a Single Crystalline Hydrogen-bonded Crosslinked Organic Framework and Its Boron Trifluoride Uptake and Catalysis.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e2023116.
38. Liu, C.; Liu, X.; Zhou, M.; Xia, C.; Lyu, Y.; Peng, Q.; Soni, C.; Zhou, Z.; Su, Q.; Wu, Y.; Weerapana, E.; Gao, J.; Chatterjee, A.; Lin, C.; Niu, J.* "Fluorosulfate as a Latent Sulfate in Peptides and Proteins" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 20189-20195.
37. Wu, L.; Rondon, B.; Dym, S.; Wang, W.; Chen, K.; Niu, J.* “Regulating Cationic Polymerization: From Structural Control to Life Cycle Management.” (Review) Prog. Polym. Sci. 2023, 145, 101736.
36. Wu, L.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Zhou, J.; Reich, S.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* “Precision Native Polysaccharides from Living Polymerization of Anhydrosugars.” Nat. Chem. 2023, 15, 1276-1284.
35. Landrigan, P.J.; Raps, H.; Cropper, M.; Bald, C.; Brunner, M., Canonizado, E.M.; Charles, D.; Chiles, T.C.; Donohue, M.J.; Enck, J.; Fenichel, P.; Fleming, L.E.; Ferrier-Pages, C.; Fordham, R.; Gozt, A.; Griffin, C.; Hahn, M.E.; Haryanto, B.; Hixson, R.; Ianelli, H.; James, B.D.; Kumar, P.; Laborde, A.; Law, K.L.; Martin, K.; Mu, J.; Mulders, Y.; Mustapha, A.; Niu, J.; Pahl, S.; Park, Y.; Pedrotti, M.-L.; Pitt, J.A.; Ruchirawat, M.; Seewoo, B.J.; Spring, M.; Stegeman, J.J.; Suk, W.; Symeonides, C.; Takada, H.; Thompson, R.C.; Vicini, A.; Wang, Z.; Whitman, E.; Wirth, D.; Wolff, M.; Yousuf, A.K.; Dunlop, S. "The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health." Ann. Glob. Health. 2023; 89, 23, 1–215.
34. Yang, C.#; Deng, Y.#; Wang, Y.; Liu, C.; Xia, C.; Booneimsri, P.; Lertmaneedang, C.; Samal, A.; Mehta, A. Y.; Baker, K. J.; Hwang, S.; Flynn, J. P.; Cao, M.; Zhu, A. C.; Cummings, R. D.; Lin, C.; Mohanty, U.*; Niu, J.* “Heparan Sulfate Glycomimetics via Iterative Assembly of ‘Clickable’ Disaccharides.” Chem. Sci. 2023, 14, 3514-3522.
33. Wang W.; Rondon, B.; Wang, Z.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* "Macrocyclic Allylic Sulfone as A Universal Comonomer in Organocatalyzed Photocontrolled Radical Copolymerization with Vinyl Monomers.” Macromolecules 2023, 56, 2052-2061.
32. Wang, H.#; Giardino, G.#; Chen, R.; Yang, C.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* “Photocatalytic Depolymerization of Native Lignin Toward Chemically Recyclable Polymer Networks" ACS Cent. Sci. 2023, 9, 48-55.
31. Wu. B. K.; Skrodzki, C. J. A.; Su, Q.; Lin, J.; Niu, J.* “Click Handle”-Modified 2'-Deoxy-2'-Fluoroarabino Nucleic Acid as A Synthetic Genetic Polymer Capable of Post-Polymerization Functionalization." Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 6873-6881.
30. Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Tang, X.; Moran, S.; Jin, J.; Haeffner, F.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* “Degradable Vinyl Random Copolymers via Photocontrolled Radical Ring-Opening Cascade Copolymerization.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, e202113302.
29. Yang, C.; Niu, J.* “Just A Click Away.” (News and Views) Nat. Chem. 2021, 13, 820-821.
28. Yuan, J.; Giardino, G.; Niu, J.* “Metathesis Cascade-Triggered Depolymerization of Enyne Self-Immolative Polymers.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 24800-24805. Featured as a Very Important Paper and on the Fronstipiece.
27. Cheng, C.; Zhou, M.; Su, Q.; Steigmeyer, A.; Niu, J.* “Genome Editor-Directed in vivo Library Diversification.” (Review) Cell Chem. Biol. 2021, 28, 1109-1118.
26. Su, Q.; Zhou, M.; Cheng, C.; Niu, J.* "Harnessing the Power of Directed Evolution to Improve Genome Editing Systems." (Review) Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2021, 64, 10-19.
25. Yang, C.; Wu, K.; Deng, Y.; Yuan, J.; Niu, J.* "Geared Toward Applications: A Perspective on Functional Sequence-Controlled Polymers." (Viewpoint) ACS Macro Lett. 2021, 10, 243-257. Featured as Front Cover.
24. Chen, R.#; Yang, C.#; Zhou, Z.; Haeffner, F.; Dersjant, A.; Dulock, N.; Dong, Q.; He, D.; Jin, J.; Zhao, Y.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* "Electrochemically Triggered Chain Reactions for the Conversion of Furan Derivatives." Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 7534-7539. Featured as Hot Paper and Frontispiece.
23. Liu, C.#; Yang, C.#; Hwang, S.; Ferraro, L. S.; Flynn, P. J.; Niu, J.* “A General Approach to O-Sulfation via Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange Reaction.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 18435-18441. # equal contribution
22. Yuan, J.; Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Niu, J.* "Cascade Reactions in Chain-Growth Polymerization" (Perspective) Macromolecules 2020, 53, 5655-5673. Featured as Front Cover.
21. Gordon, C. K. L.; Wu, D.; Feagin, T. A.; Pusuluri, A.; Csordas, A. T.; Eisenstein, M.; Hawker, C. J.; Niu, J.*; Soh, H. T.* “Click-Particle Display for Base-Modified Aptamer Discovery” ACS Chem. Biol. 2019, 14, 2652-2662. Featured in ACS Editor's Choice. (A previous version of this article was published as a bioRxiv preprint, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/626572.)
20. Huang, H.; Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Sun, B.; An, M.; Haeffner, F.; Niu, J.* "Radical Ring-Closing/Ring-Opening Cascade Polymerization." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12493 - 12497.
19. Yang, C.; Flynn, J.; Niu, J.* “Facile Synthesis of Sequence-Regulated Polymers Using Orthogonal SuFEx and CuAAC Click Reactions.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 16194-16199. Highlighted by Synfacts 2019, 15, 0034.
18. Huang, H.; Sun, B.; Huang, Y.; Niu, J.* "Radical Cascade-Triggered Controlled Ring-Opening Polymerization of Macrocyclic Monomers." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 10402-10406. Featured as Front Cover, in the JACS Spotlights, and in the 2019 JACS Young Investigator Virtual Issue.
17. Watanabe, A.; Niu, J.; Lunn, D. J.; Lawrence J.; Knight, A.S.; Zhang, M.; Hawker, C. J.* "PET‐RAFT as a Facile Strategy for Preparing Functional Lipid–Polymer Conjugates." J. Polym. Sci. A 2018, 56, 1259-1268.
16. Niu, J.; Page, Z.; Dolinski, N.; Anastasaki, A.; Hsueh A. T.; Soh, H. T.; Hawker, C.J.* “Rapid Visible Light-Mediated Controlled Aqueous Polymerization with in situ Monitoring.” ACS Macro Lett. 2017, 6, 1109-1113.
15. Kaminker, R.; Kaminker, I.; Gutekunst, W. R.; Luo, Y.; Lee, S.; Niu, J.; Han, S.*; Hawker, C.J.* “Tuning conformation and properties of peptidomimetic backbones through dual N/Ca-substitution.” Chem. Commun. 2018, 54, 5237.
14. Niu, J.; Lunn, D.J.; Pusuluri, A.; Yoo, J.; O’Malley, M.A.; Mitragotri, S.; Soh, H.T.*; Hawker, C.J.* “Engineering Live Cell Surfaces with Functional Polymers via Cytocompatible Controlled Radical Polymerization.” Nat. Chem. 2017, 9, 537-545.
13. Dolinski, N.; Page, Z.; Eisenreich, F.; Niu, J.; Hecht, S.; Read de Alaniz, J.; Hawker, C.J.* “A Versatile Approach for “in situ” Monitoring of Photoswitches and Photopolymerizations using NMR Spectroscopy.” ChemPhotoChem 2017, 1, 125-131.
12. Discekici, E.H.; Shankel, S.L.; Anastasaki, A.; Oschmann, B.; Lee, I.H.; Niu, J.; McGrath, A.J.; Clark, P.G.; Laitar, D.S.; Read de Alaniz, J., Hawker, C.J.*; Lunn, D.J.* “Dual-Pathway Chain-End Modification of RAFT Polymers Using Visible Light and Metal-Free Conditions.” Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 1888-1891.
11. Glavan, A.C.; Niu, J. (co-first); Chen, Z.; Güder, F.; Cheng, C.M.; Liu, D.R. Whitesides, G.M. “Analytical Devices Based on Direct Synthesis of DNA on Paper.” Anal. Chem. 2015, 88, 725-731.
10. Niu, J.; Hili, R.; Liu, D.R.* “Enzyme-free Translation of DNA into Sequence-Defined Synthetic Polymers Structurally Unrelated to Nucleic Acids.” Nat. Chem. 2013, 5, 282-292.
9. Hili, R.; Niu, J.; Liu, D.R.* “DNA Ligase-Mediated Translation of DNA Into Densely Functionalized Nucleic Acid Polymers.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 98-101.
8. Niu, J.; Shi, F.; Liu, Z.H.; Wang, Z.Q.; Zhang, X.*; Sun, J.Q.; Ozaki, Y. “Surface Imprinted Nanostructured Layer-by-Layer Film for Molecular Recognition of Theophylline-Derivatives.” Langmuir 2008, 24, 11988-11994.
7. Zhang, X.*; Shi, F.; Niu, J.; Jiang, Y.; Wang, Z.Q. “Superhydrophobic Surfaces: From Structural Control to Functional Application.” J. Mater. Chem. 2008, 18, 621-633.
6. Niu, J.; Shi, F.; Liu, Z.; Wang, Z.Q.; Zhang, X.* “Reversible Disulfide Cross-Linking in Layer-by-Layer Films: Preassembly Enhanced Loading and pH/Reductant Dually Controllable Release.” Langmuir 2007, 23, 6377-6384.
5. Shi, F.; Niu, J.(co-first); Liu, Z.; Wang, Z.Q.; Smet, M.; Dahaen, W.; Zhang, X.* “To Adjust Wetting Properties of Organic Surface by In Situ Photoreaction of Aromatic Azide.” Langmuir 2007, 23, 1253-1257.
4. Shi, F.; Niu, J.; Liu, J.; Liu, F.; Wang, Z.Q.; Zhang, X.* “Towards Understanding Why Superhydrophobic Coating Is Needed by Water Striders.” Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 2257.
3. Niu, J.; Yuan, J.Y.* “A primary study on the computation and application of the critical point of the binary copolymer constitutional curve.” Chin. J. Univ. Chem. 2006, 21, 60-62.
2. Shi, F.; Song, Y.; Niu, J.; Zhang, X.*; Wang, Z.Q.; Xia, X.H. “Facile Method to Fabricate Large-scale Superhydrophobic Surface by Galvanic Cell Reaction.” Chem. Mater. 2006, 18, 1365-1368.
1. Shi, F.; Chen, X.; Wang, L.; Niu, J.; Yu, J.; Wang, Z.Q.; Zhang X.* “Roselike microstructures formed by direct in situ hydrothermal synthesis: from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity.” Chem. Mater. 2005, 17, 6177-6180.