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Block polyethers comprised of poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEG or PEO) segments form the basis of ABA‐type PEO‐b‐PPO‐b‐PEO poloxamer materials. The inverse architecture with an internal hydrophilic PEO segment flanked by hydrophobic blocks can be difficult to prepare with control of architecture by use of traditional anionic polymerization. These oxyanionic polymerizations are plagued by chain‐transfer‐to‐monomer side reactions that occur with substituted epoxides such as propylene oxide (PO). Herein, we report a new method for the preparation of block polymers through a controlled polymerization involving a N‐Al Lewis adduct catalyst and an aluminum alkoxide macroinitiator. The Lewis pair catalyst was able to chain‐extend commercial PEO macroinitiators to prepare di‐, tri‐, and pentablock polyethers with low dispersity and reasonable monomer tolerance. Chain extension was confirmed using size exclusion chromatography and diffusion ordered nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The resulting block polymers were additionally analyzed with small‐angle X‐ray scattering to correlate the morphology to molecular architecture.

An extremely rapid process for self‐assembling well‐ordered, nano, and microparticle monolayers via a novel aerosolized method is presented. The novel technique can reach monolayer self‐assembly rates as high as 268 cm²min⁻¹from a single aerosolizing source and methods to reach faster monolayer self‐assembly rates are outlined. A new physical mechanism describing the self‐assembly process is presented and new insights enabling high‐efficiency nanoparticle monolayer self‐assembly are developed. In addition, well‐ordered monolayer arrays from particles of various sizes, surface functionality, and materials are fabricated. This new technique enables a 93× increase in monolayer self‐assembly rates compared to the current state of the art and has the potential to provide an extremely low‐cost option for submicron nanomanufacturing.

The interplay of charge, spin, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom in correlated materials often leads to rich and exotic properties. Recent studies have brought new perspectives to bosonic collective excitations in correlated materials. For example, inelastic neutron scattering experiments revealed non-trivial band topology for magnons and spin–orbit excitons (SOEs) in a quantum magnet CoTiO₃(CTO). Here, we report phonon properties resulting from a combination of strong spin–orbit coupling, large crystal field splitting, and trigonal distortion in CTO. Specifically, the interaction between SOEs and phonons endows chirality to two$E_g$phonon modes and leads to large phonon magnetic moments observed in magneto-Raman spectra. The remarkably strong magneto-phononic effect originates from the hybridization of SOEs and phonons due to their close energy proximity. While chiral phonons have been associated with electronic topology in some materials, our work suggests opportunities may arise by exploring chiral phonons coupled to topological bosons.