CAREER:Direct Synthesis of Polymer Brushes using Organometallic Catalysts with Tethered Initiators

该职业奖提出了一种新的合成方法，使用有机金属催化剂最近提供的独特潜力来创建新的聚合物刷组合物和架构，用于从系留引发剂产生各种各样的刷。 这项工作的主要目的是合成明确定义的刚性刷在球形和平面几何形状的接枝密度和链长的先验确定，并利用这些控制刷结构建立，实验，蠕虫状刷的缩放关系。 PI将进一步利用活性有机金属聚合催化剂提供的多功能性来设计和合成将联合收割机嵌段与疏水和不带电的嵌段结合的嵌段共聚物刷。 使用多异氰酸酯作为模型半柔性聚合物也将导致手性异氰酸酯刷的合成，将进行研究，以确定链包装对手性诱导的重要性。 PI还将在复杂的几何形状上制备刷子，以探索这种方法在制备聚合物纳米结构中的实用性。 例如，聚合物将在空心圆柱体的内表面上以预定的模式生长在外表面上。教学活动将集中在研究小组的背景下指导本科生。 还提出了一个新的课程，“科学教学的艺术”，一个跨学科的课程，旨在为两个选区，科学家和公民。 科学家是那些希望在技术领域的职业生涯，需要在技术知识和技能的彻底接地：科学家正在学习，以做科学。 另一方面，公民学习是为了了解科学。 该课程将有两个目标：在基本化学和材料科学领域的一系列演示演讲的发展;和第二个新的讲座课程称为“纸或塑料？ 日常生活中的材料选择”。 这一课程将作为若干外联活动的跳板。 将鼓励学生在访问高中时进行演示。由类开发的材料也将形成一个短期课程的基础上提供给教师在高中和大学水平。

This career award presents a new synthetic approach to creating new polymer brush compositions and architectures using the unique potential that organometallic catalysts have recently offered for generating wide varieties of brushes from tethered initiators. The primary object of this effort is to synthesize well-defined stiff brushes in spherical and planar geometries with a priori determination of grafting density and chain length and to exploit these controlled brush structures to establish, experimentally, the scaling relations for wormlike brushes. The PI will further capitalize on the versatility afforded by living organometallic polymerizations catalysts to design and synthesize block co-polymer brushes that combine polyelectrolyte blocks with hydrophobic and uncharged hydrophillic blocks. The use of polyisocyanates as model semiflexible polymers will also lead to the synthesis of chiral isocyanate brushes that will be studied to ascertain the importance of chain packing on chiral induction. The PI will also prepare brushes on complex geometries to probe the utility of this methodology in preparing polymeric nanostructures. For example, polymers will be grown on the interior surfaces of hollow cylinders in predetermined patters on external surfaces.Teaching activities will focus on mentoring undergraduates in the context of a research group. A new course is also proposed, "The Art of Teaching Science" an interdisciplinary course designed to serve two constituencies, those of the scientist and the citizen. The scientists are those who desire careers in technical fields and need thorough grounding in technical knowledge and skills: scientists are learning in order to do science. The citizen, on the other hand, studies to learn about science. The course will have two goals: development of a series of lecture demonstrations in the areas of elementary chemistry and materials science; and the development of a curriculum for a second new lecture course called "Paper or Plastic? Materials Choices in Everyday Life". This course will serve as a springboard for several outreach activities. Students will be encouraged to present the demonstrations in visits to high schools. The materials developed by the class will also form the basis for a short course to be offered to teachers at the high school and college level.