Great Escape
9540 Irving Park Road
Schiller Park, IL
(847) 671-7171
Cost $50 ($25 Graduate Student/Post Doc)
Annual Dues $30 ($10 Students/Post Docs)
Engineering the Shape of Macromolecules Through Catalytic Polymerizations and Reactor Engineering
Professor Damien Guironnet
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL
ABSTRACT : Controlling the structure of polymers is the hallmark of most new developments in catalytic polymerizations. Bottlebrush polymers, a type of densely grafted polymer, are an example of polymers made accessible by the development of catalytic polymerizations. The length and sequence of the grafted side-chains exert indirect control over material processing and molecular assembly behavior. I will present on a methodology we developed leveraging inverse design, automated synthesis and computer simulation to engineer bottlebrush polymers with 3D molecular geometries. This synthetic control is achieved through precise determination of the kinetics of the ring opening metathesis polymerization of norbornene type monomers initiated by Grubbs third generation catalyst. These kinetic studies led us to identify, through a series of isotopic labelling experiments, the rate determining step of this polymerization technique.
Bottlebrush polymers with hourglass, football, bowtie, and sphere architecture profiles were synthesized with high molecular weights (up to 106 g mol-1, ~150 nm) and narrow dispersities (Ɖ<1.1). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images and rheological data in combination with simulation will be presented to illustrate the precision of the synthesis.
Bio: To be Published Here Soon
Catalysis Club of Chicago 