Faculty Profiles

Michael Rubinstein
Michael Rubinstein
Professor of Chemistry
Office: 
3377 Fciemas Building, Box 90300, Durham, NC 27708
Phone: 
(919) 660-5365
michael.rubinstein@duke.edu
Rubinstein Lab
Research Interests: 

The research of the Rubinstein group is in the field of polymer theory and computer simulations. The unique properties of polymeric systems are due to the size, topology and interactions of the molecules they are made of. Our goal is to understand the properties of various polymeric systems and to design new systems with even more interesting and useful properties.

Our approach is based upon building and solving simple molecular models of different polymeric systems. The models we develop are simple enough to be solved either analytically or numerically, but contain the main features leading to unique properties of real polymers. Computer simulations of our models serve as an important bridge between analytical calculations and experiments.

Overview

Education:

Ph.D., Harvard University 1983

Cai, Li-Heng, et al. “Soft Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Elastomers from Architecture-Driven Entanglement Free Design.” Advanced Materials, vol. 27, no. 35, Wiley, Sept. 2015, pp. 5132–40. Crossref, doi:10.1002/adma.201502771. Full Text

Anderson, Wayne H., et al. “The Relationship of Mucus Concentration (Hydration) to Mucus Osmotic Pressure and Transport in Chronic Bronchitis.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol. 192, no. 2, American Thoracic Society, July 2015, pp. 182–90. Crossref, doi:10.1164/rccm.201412-2230oc. Full Text

Hassouneh, Wafa, et al. “Elastin-like Polypeptide Diblock Copolymers Self-Assemble into Weak Micelles..” Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 12, June 2015, pp. 4183–95. Epmc, doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00431. Full Text

Ge, Ting, and Michael Rubinstein. “Strong Selective Adsorption of Polymers.” Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 11, American Chemical Society (ACS), June 2015, pp. 3788–801. Crossref, doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00586. Full Text

Hegde, Maruti, et al. “The role of crystallinity in SWCNT–polyetherimide nanocomposites.” Composites Science and Technology, vol. 110, Elsevier BV, Apr. 2015, pp. 176–87. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2015.02.004. Full Text

Lang, Michael, et al. “Conformations of a Long Polymer in a Melt of Shorter Chains: Generalizations of the Flory Theorem.” Acs Macro Letters, vol. 4, no. 2, American Chemical Society (ACS), Feb. 2015, pp. 177–81. Crossref, doi:10.1021/mz500777r. Full Text

Cai, Li-Heng, et al. “Hopping Diffusion of Nanoparticles in Polymer Matrices.” Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 3, American Chemical Society (ACS), Feb. 2015, pp. 847–62. Crossref, doi:10.1021/ma501608x. Full Text

Kalathi, Jagannathan T., et al. “Rouse Mode Analysis of Chain Relaxation in Homopolymer Melts.” Macromolecules, vol. 47, no. 19, American Chemical Society (ACS), Oct. 2014, pp. 6925–31. Crossref, doi:10.1021/ma500900b. Full Text

Zhulina, Ekaterina B., and Michael Rubinstein. “Lubrication by Polyelectrolyte Brushes.” Macromolecules, vol. 47, no. 16, American Chemical Society (ACS), Aug. 2014, pp. 5825–38. Crossref, doi:10.1021/ma500772a. Full Text

Hegde, Maruti, et al. “SWCNT induced crystallization in amorphous and semi-crystalline poly(etherimide)s: Morphology and thermo-mechanical properties.” Polymer, vol. 55, no. 16, Elsevier BV, Aug. 2014, pp. 3746–57. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2014.06.017. Full Text

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