Designing and synthesizing exotic small and giant molecules for unusual properties, Associate Professor Yan Xia works at the interface of chemistry and materials science. His research combines catalysis, organic and polymer chemistry, and a range of advanced characterizations to create, control, and study novel (macro)molecular structures and organic materials with tailored conformations, nanostructures, properties, and functions. These new soft materials have interesting and unusual properties/functions for applications in energy-efficient molecular separations, sustainable plastics, electronics, and therapeutics.

Prof. Xia studied chemistry at Peking University (B.S. 2002), McMaster University (M.S. 2005), and Caltech (Ph.D. 2010). Following his PhD, he worked at Dow Chemical and MIT before joining the chemistry faculty at Stanford in the summer of 2013. His longstanding research interest is to develop novel organic materials at the interface of chemistry and materials science.

Research in the Xia Group combines vigorous function-driven syntheses, rational molecular design, and in-depth understanding of (macro)molecular reactivity, property, and function. Powerful synthetic methods are the enabling force behind their development of novel organic materials. They have developed various types of chemistry to generate diverse molecular ladder materials with high microporosity, antiaromaticity, or responsive behaviors; polymers with controlled microstructures and degradation; dynamic polymer networks and hydrogels.