Radical Routes to New Copolymeric Materials

两种新型聚合物将在主要研究者的实验室中合成和表征，它们的一些性质将在合作者的实验室中更深入地确定。 成千上万的聚合物胶体（也称为胶乳）将通过亲水性和疏水性单体的乳液共聚平行合成，以寻找表现出新形态的共聚物。 将使用目视测试来确定哪些胶乳形成乳光膜，哪些胶乳将分离成像聚合物共混物那样的相。 通过乳液聚合形成的共聚物已经用于制造合成橡胶胶乳和涂料超过50年，可以提供现在用于稳定聚合物共混物的嵌段共聚物的低成本替代物。 研究了苯乙烯-甲基丙烯酸羟乙酯胶乳胶体晶体向多孔聚合物网络转化的化学和物理基础。 聚合物网将被探索作为聚合物和胶体的分离介质，作为催化剂的固体载体，以及作为制备光子带隙材料的模板。 材料的光学特性将与教授合作研究。Ackerson和Tong在俄克拉荷马州州立大学（OSU）物理系。 模型聚锰电解质将被合成，以测试其在水溶液中的结构和性能的当前理论。 两性聚电解质是蛋白质的合成类似物，其在单个聚合物链中含有（+）和（-）带电单元。 它们将通过不带电单体的活性自由基聚合，然后通过官能团转化来产生带电单元来制备。 聚合物的组成、结构和分子量将在俄勒冈州立大学确定。 模型两性聚电解质将提供给宾夕法尼亚州立大学的科尔比教授，用于测量水溶液的粘度、聚合物链上的电荷和介电响应，并且这些结果将与北卡罗来纳州大学的鲁宾斯坦教授的两性聚电解质的新理论进行比较。这项研究是在纳米科学，生物相关的聚合物和组合化学的一般领域。 从这项研究中获得研究生学位的学生将在主要研究者的实验室中获得聚合物合成和表征方面的经验，并在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的聚合物溶液特性或OSU物理学中胶体材料的光学特性方面获得经验。 除了满足化学学位的要求，研究生（和博士后学者）将参加跨学科研讨会和俄克拉荷马州网络纳米结构材料（NanoNet）的短期课程，在化学，物理，化学工程和电气工程在俄勒冈州立大学，俄克拉荷马州大学，和塔尔萨大学新成立的一组教师。广泛的科学基础将为工业研究和开发或大学教学做好准备。

Two new types polymers will be synthesized and characterized in the laboratory of the principal investigator, and some of their properties will be determined in greater depth in the laboratories of collaborators. Thousands of polymer colloids (also known as latexes) will be synthesized in parallel by emulsion copolymerization of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers in search of copolymers that exhibit new morphologies. Visual tests will be used to determine which latexes form opalescent films, and which will separate into phases like those of polymer blends. Copolymers formed by emulsion polymerization, which has been used for the manufacture synthetic rubber latex and coatings for more than fifty years, may provide a low cost alternative to block copolymers that are used now to stabilize polymer blends. The chemical and physical bases for the transformation of colloidal crystals of a styrene-hydroxyethyl methacrylate latex to porous polymer nets will investigated. The polymer nets will be explored as separation media for polymers and colloids, as solid supports for catalysts, and as templates for preparation of photonic bandgap materials. Optical properties of the materials will be studied in collaboration with Profs. Ackerson and Tong in the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Department of Physics. Model polymampholytes will be synthesized to enable testing of current theory of their structures and properties in aqueous solutions. Polyampholytes are synthetic synthetic analogues of proteins that contain (+) and (-) charged units in a single polymer chain. They will be prepared by living radical polymerization of uncharged monomers followed by functional group transformations to create the charged units. The compositions, structures, and molecular weights of the polymers will be determined at OSU. The model polyampholytes will be provided to Prof. Colby of Pennsylvania State University for measurements of viscosity of aqueous solutions, electrical charge on the polymer chains, and dielectric response, and those results will be compared with new theories of polyampholytes by Prof. Rubinstein of the University of North Carolina.%%%This research is in the general areas of nanoscience, bio-related polymers, and combinational chemistry. Students earning graduate degrees from this research will gain experience at polymer synthesis and characterization in the laboratory of the principal investigator, and in properties of polymer solutions at Penn State or optical properties of colloidal materials in physics at OSU. In addition to meeting degree requirements in chemistry, the graduate students (and the postdoctoral scholar) will participate in the interdisciplinary workshops and short courses of the Oklahoma Network for Nanostructured materials (NanoNet), a newly formed group of faculty in chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, and electrical engineering at OSU, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Tulsa. The broad scientific base will prepare them for industrial research and development or university teaching.