Efficient Synthesis of Soft Nanomaterials Through Transition Metal-Catalyzed Polymerization

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TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The objective of the proposed study is to develop highly efficient catalytic synthesis of soft nano-materials having unconventional structures and properties. Nanomaterials are actively investigated for various nanotechnology applications including catalysis, sensors, bio-imaging, drug delivery, and electronics. Among other systems, nanomaterials based on dendritic polymers have received much attention because they have globular shape in solution with molecular dimensions right in the nanometer range. Despite the elegance of many syntheses, the difficulty of preparing dendritic nanomaterials through step-wise synthesis and the limit of ultimate size for regular dendrimers warrant the search of more efficient methodologies for constructing dendritic nanostructures. This proposal details the plan to apply and combine various catalytic polymerization methods to efficiently synthesize soft nanomaterials. In the first part, the unique chain walking polymerization will be combined with atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) for designing unconventional linear-dendritic block copolymers. In the second part, simultaneous growth of dendritic nanoparticles on multi-sited chain walking catalysts and polymerization of dendronized macromonomer approach are proposed as efficient methods for constructing molecular nano-objects. The physical properties of the synthesized novel soft nanomaterials will be carefully investigated both in the PI's laboratory and through collaboration with other materials scientists in the United States and other countries.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This proposed research is aimed at developing catalytic polymerization methods for efficient preparation of soft functional nanomaterials that are important for various nanotechnology applications including catalysis, sensors, bio-imaging, drug delivery, and electronics. The synthesis will be achieved by efficient transition metal catalyzed polymerization of olefins that are easily accessible from petroleum industry. Successful development of high value nanomaterials from simple olefinic monomers will have significant impact on polyolefin industry. In addition, efficient methods for preparing complex and multifunctional soft nanomaterials may potentially accelerate many nanotechnological developments. The proposed multi-disciplinary research activity will provide excellent training for students in many areas including organic synthesis, organometallic, polymer synthesis and property studies, and nanoscience. This will provide great opportunities to train graduate and undergraduate students, especially for minority and women students.