CAREER: Driving the Development of Functional Polymeric Materials with Innovative Chemical Synthesis: Creating New Opportunities in Research and Education

有了这个职业奖，有机和大分子化学项目支持德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校化学和生物化学系的Christopher W. Bielawski教授的研究和教育目标。Bielawski教授将以多主题碳烯为基础，开发具有刺激响应特性的导电聚合物。该项目的研究目标是将有用的电子特性集成到刺激响应的结构动态聚合物中。在这些功能材料中添加电子元件是一个根本性的挑战，这将有助于当前分子结构和键合，化学反应性和聚合物合成的知识。这一挑战将通过适应能够与有机和无机底物形成可逆加合物的多主题碳烯进入新的聚合反应来解决。设计的方法还有一个额外的好处，即丰富了碳烯的化学性质，同时开辟了大分子科学的新领域。在有机和大分子化学项目颁发的CAREER奖的支持下，Bielwski教授将开发出在电子元件和器件中具有实际应用价值的材料。例如，自我修复的电子电路，可重构的电子系统，能够响应外部施加的刺激而重新布线，以及在分子尺度电路中建立电子连接的新化学方法，都是该项目预期的结果。由于拟议研究的多学科性质，参与该项目的学生将获得广泛的科学概念和技术经验。Bielawski教授还积极参与旨在培养有机、有机金属和聚合物化学方面的本科生和研究生的教育项目。他将开设大分子化学的免费讲座和实验课程，并邀请来自德克萨斯州的大学预科学生参加与聚合物相关的暑期研究项目。

With this CAREER award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research and educational goals of Professor Christopher W. Bielawski of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Using multitopic carbenes as building blocks, Professor Bielawski will develop conductive polymers with stimuli-responsive characteristics. The research objective of this project is to integrate useful electronic properties into stimuli-responsive, structurally dynamic polymers. Adding an electronic component to such functional materials is a fundamental challenge that will contribute to current knowledge of molecular structure and bonding, chemical reactivity, and polymer synthesis. This challenge will be addressed by adapting multitopic carbenes capable of forming reversible adducts with organic and inorganic substrates into new polymerization reactions. The designed approach has an added benefit of enriching the chemistry of carbenes while opening a new dimension in macromolecular science.With the support of this CAREER award from the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, Professor Bielwski will develop materials with properties that are expected to find a number of practical applications in electronic components and devices. For example, self-healing electronic circuits, reconfigurable electronic systems capable of rewiring themselves in response to externally applied stimuli, and new chemical methods for establishing electronic connections in molecular-scale circuits are anticipated results from this project. Inherent to the multidisciplinary nature of the proposed research, students working on this project will gain experience in a wide range of scientific concepts and techniques. Professor Bielawski is also actively involved in educational programs designed to train undergraduate and graduate students in organic, organometallic, and polymer chemistry. He will develop complimentary lecture and laboratory courses on the subject of macromolecular chemistry, and engage pre-college students from the state of Texas in polymer-related summer research programs.