New chromatographic separation systems for polyolefins - theoretical explorations and experimental realization

化学系的分析和表面化学项目支持教授们的合作研究项目。孟菲斯大学的王永梅和德国昆斯托夫研究所的蒂博尔·麦科。该奖项由NSF的国际科学与工程办公室共同资助，并与由德国科学与工程基金会(DFG)资助的一个合作奖项进行协调。本工作利用理论和计算方法，根据聚烯烃的化学组成和链结构，探索新的聚烯烃色谱分离体系。聚烯烃是世界上生产最广泛的合成聚合物商品。与大多数合成聚合物样品一样，它们在摩尔质量、化学组成、官能度和/或链结构上都有分布。虽然其他分析方法，如制备分馏和核磁共振分析可以用来确定其中的一些分布，但基于层析的方法通常具有更好的稳健性和效率。这些研究需要与德国聚合物科学研究所(DKI)的科学家合作，开发基于吸附和/或沉淀的聚烯烃的液相色谱分离模式，从而能够根据化学组成和/或链结构进行基于色谱的分离。该项目的更广泛影响包括技术方面和教育方面。基于吸附和/或沉淀的聚烯烃色谱分离的发展将使分子表征更快和更详细。这反过来又将影响年产聚烯烃约1亿吨的行业。该项目还支持在涉及统计力学理论、聚合物科学以及表面和分离科学的跨学科领域对研究生和本科生进行培训。该项目让学生参与国际科学合作，为他们未来成为研究和教育领域的国际领导者做好准备。

The Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry supports the collaborative research program of Profs. Yongmei Wang at the University of Memphis and Tibor Macko of the Deutches Kunstoff-Instituet. The award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering at NSF, and coordinates with a collaborative award funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The work utilizes theoretical/computational methods to explore new chromatographic separation systems of polyolefins according to their chemical composition and chain architectures. Polyolefins are the most widely produced synthetic polymer commodity worldwide. Like most synthetic polymer samples, they have distributions in molar mass, chemical composition, functionality, and/or chain architectures. Although other analytical methods such as preparative fractionation followed by NMR analysis can be used for determination of some of these distributions, chromatography-based methods often enjoy better robustness and efficiency. These studies entail collaboration with scientists at the German Institute of Polymer Science (DKI) to develop adsorption- and/or precipitation-based liquid chromatographic separation modes for polyolefins, thereby enabling chromatographic-based separation according to chemical composition and/or chain architectures.The broader impact of this project includes both a technical aspect and an education component. Development of chromatographic separations of polyolefins based on adsorption and/or precipitation will enable faster and more detailed molecular characterization. This in turn will impact industries that produce approximately 100 million tons of polyolefins annually. The project also supports training of graduate and undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary area that involves statistical mechanics theory, polymer science, and surface and separation science. The project engages students in international scientific collaboration, preparing them to be future international leaders in research and education.