Transition Metal Compatibilization of Immiscible Polymer Blends

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9902657BelfioreThe primary objective of this research is to develop methodologies for compativilizing immiscible polymer blends via transition metal complexation. Miscibility occurs when the metal center coordinates to ligands in two different polymers. These polymeric/transition-metal coordination complexes are unique because their macroscopic physical properties do not follow the simple rule of additivity that is characteristic of weakly interacting polymer blends. The final products exhibit unusual thermo-mechanical properties because reactive blending generates a coordination crosslink or a covalent linkage between two dissimilar chains. This is an extension of supramolecular design that represents a new frontier in interdisciplinary macromolecular science and engineering. Strategies to transform immiscible polymer blends into compatible mixtures via small amounts of a transitions of a transition-metal complex are extremely attractive for industrial applications where synergistic macroscopic physical properties are desired.The methodologies under investigation in this study represent the "next step" in the search for strongly interacting functional polymers, ternary blends & complexes. This research on organic-inorganic hybrid materials will contribute significantly to the state-of-the-art in nanotechnology, and offer unusually new & useful properties in the final products.