EAGER:Meso-Polymers

技术总结：在这里，我们提出了新的合成策略的发展，这将导致各种新的软材料，应该具有独特的性能。我们计划通过结合最先进的传统聚合物合成方法和我们首创的称为非润湿模板中的颗粒复制（PRINT®）的软光刻技术的最新突破来合成这些新材料。我们希望尝试实现的是合成传统聚合物的介观变体，我们称之为“介观聚合物”。由meso-polymers ?我们指的是模制的聚合物物体，它们本质上是丝状的，其长径比可以与合成聚合物相媲美。这是以前从未实现过的。如果我们能合成具有各种可调溶解度参数（不同程度的亲水性、疏水性、氟相）的介观聚合物，这将是非常有趣的；不同程度的刚度（类似于棒状线圈聚合物）；可控长度（%成分）；和连通性（ABA， ABC， ABABA等）。如果我们能够实现如此高的纵横比，介观聚合物应该提供了聚合物如何纠缠和形成高阶结构的深刻见解。拟议的研究工作有三个目标，包括尝试i)合成介观聚合物；Ii)表征单相介观聚合物的物理性质；多相介观聚合物的合成及介观表征。非技术概述：聚合物是长链分子，具有非常高的长径比，影响我们的日常生活，如塑料，涂料，粘合剂和橡胶。从丙烯酸颜料、橡胶轮胎到塑料瓶、防弹玻璃和电脑键盘，它们无处不在。聚合物的制造导致材料具有一定的长度分布，并且由于聚合物的纤维性质，它们彼此纠缠在一起。用一种以上的材料制造聚合物是非常复杂的，并且引入了成分作为另一个变量。为了进一步科学和理解这类重要的独特材料，我们建议制造精确控制的聚合物模拟物，我们称之为“介观聚合物”。介孔聚合物将使用一种称为PRINT®的成型技术制造，这种技术类似于在松饼锅中烘烤松饼，但规模要小得多。使用PRINT，介观聚合物将由各种材料制成，具有非常高的宽高比，接近1000万！这些材料的成功合成将对高分子科学界产生重大影响。预计介观聚合物将具有与传统聚合物分子根本不同的特性，预计该项目的成功将改变人们对聚合物分子的看法，实际上，必须调用新的物理学来理解这些材料的性质和特性。除了增进对高分子材料的了解外，该项目还将促进教学、培训和创业。研究生将学习如何解决问题，从聚合物合成开始，转移到材料性质和应用。预计我们将在这个项目上取得突破，一些初步的专利申请将不可避免地由这个项目的学生同事完成。这些专利将保护我们从事转化科学的能力，并吸引外部社区来解决许多领域迄今未满足的需求。这些专利的申请和多学科的互动也将为参与其中的学生提供良好的教育体验。此外，研究结果将被纳入，在适当的情况下，本科有机化学和研究生聚合物化学的教学中，以帮助学生了解基本概念的效用和创新的转化机会。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Herein we propose the development of new synthetic strategies that will lead to a variety of new soft materials that should have unique properties. We plan to synthesize these new materials by combining the state-of-the-art in traditional polymer synthesis methodologies with recent breakthroughs in soft lithography that we have pioneered called Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates (PRINT®). What we hope to try to achieve is the synthesis of mesoscopic variants of conventional polymers that we will call ?meso-polymers?. By ?meso-polymers? we mean molded polymeric objects that are filamentous in nature that have length to diameter ratios that rival that of synthetic polymers. This has never been achieved before. It will be very interesting to see if we can synthesize meso-polymers having various and tunable solubility parameters (varying degrees of hydrophilic, hydrophobic, fluorous phases); various degrees of stiffness (analogy to rod-coil polymers); controllable lengths (% compositions); and connectivity (ABA, ABC, ABABA, etc). If we can achieve such high aspect ratios, meso-polymers should provide great insight into how polymers entangle and form higher order structures. The proposed research effort has three aims involving the attempted i) synthesis of meso-polymers; ii) the characterization of the physical properties of single-phase meso-polymers; and iii) the synthesis and mesoscopic characterization of multi-phase meso-polymers.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Polymers are long chain molecules with very high length to diameter ratios that impact our everyday lives as plastics, coatings, adhesives, and rubbers. They are found in everything from acrylic paints and rubber tires to plastic bottles, bulletproof glass, and computer keyboards. The fabrication of polymers results in materials that have a distribution of lengths and, due to the fibrous nature of polymers, are entangled with one another. Making polymers out of more than one material is very complicated and introduces composition as another variable. To further the science and understanding of this important class of unique materials, we propose to fabricate precisely controlled polymer mimics that we term ?meso-polymers.? The meso-polymers will be fabricated using a molding technique called PRINT® that is akin to baking muffins in a muffin pan but on a much much smaller scale. Using PRINT, meso-polymers will be fabricated out of a variety of materials with very high aspect ratios approaching 10 million! The successful synthesis of these materials will have a significant impact on the polymer science community. It is expected that meso-polymers will have fundamentally different characteristics from conventional polymer molecules and it is anticipated that the success of this program will change the way people think about polymer molecules and indeed new physics will have to be invoked to understand the properties and characteristics of these materials. In addition to advancing the understanding of polymeric materials, this project will also promote teaching, training and entrepreneurship. Graduate students will learn how to solve problems by starting with polymer synthesis moving to material properties and applications. Anticipating that we will have a breakthrough with this program, several initial patent applications will inevitably be developed which will be done by the student co-workers on this project. Such patents will protect our ability to do translational science and engage the outside community to address heretofore unmet needs in numerous fields. The filing of these patents and the multi-disciplinary interactions will also provide great educational experiences for the students involved. Additionally, it is expected that the research results will be incorporated, where appropriate, into the teaching of undergraduate organic chemistry and of graduate polymer chemistry to help students appreciate the utility of basic concepts and the translational opportunities of innovation.