Bimetallic Catalysts for the Synthesis of Environmentally Benign Polymers

化学部的这一奖项支持康奈尔大学Geoffrey科茨教授的研究，以开发新的具有潜在效用的聚合物材料合成催化剂。 这项工作将集中在利用环氧化物在聚合物合成的三个主要原因：1）环氧化物是廉价的化学原料; 2）环氧化物可以从生物可再生的来源;和3）环氧化物可用于制造聚醚，聚酯和聚碳酸酯，所有这些都可以安全地在环境中生物降解。 工作将集中于开发一系列用于环氧化物聚合的锌和钴络合物。 具体目标是：1）开发可以控制聚合的立体化学的手性催化剂，从而产生具有比立构无规对应物更好的性能的半结晶聚合物; 2）从有机和无机的角度理解手性催化剂的设计挑战，并利用这些新催化剂进行聚合物合成。 目标聚合物是来自环氧化物均聚的聚醚、来自环氧化物/CO2共聚的聚碳酸酯和来自环氧化物/酸酐共聚的聚酯。建议的工作中心开发用于环境友好的环氧化物转化的催化剂，包括来自环氧化物/CO2共聚的聚碳酸酯。 外展活动包括在当地小学和中学进行各种化学演示和动手探究实验。 在上一个资助期间，PI和他的团队在K-12外展活动中花费了140多个小时，与780名学生和201名教师互动。 从天然物质合成塑料的研究很容易被公众所了解，这个研究小组努力积极参与电视网络，报纸和杂志，以帮助公众看到科学有很大的潜力，以满足社会对环境负责的方式的需求。

This award in the Division of Chemistry supports research by Professor Geoffrey Coates at Cornell University to develop new bimetallic complexes that have potential utility as catalysts for the synthesis of polymeric materials. The work will focus on the utilization of epoxides in polymer synthesis for three primary reasons: 1) epoxides are inexpensive chemical feedstocks; 2) epoxides can be derived from biorenewable sources; and 3) epoxides can be used to make polyethers, polyesters, and polycarbonates, all of which safely biodegrade in the environment. Work will focus on the development of a range of bimetallic zinc and cobalt complexes for epoxide polymerization. Specific objectives are: 1) the development of chiral catalysts that can control the stereochemistry of the polymerization, resulting in semi-crystalline polymers with improved properties over their stereorandom counterparts; 2) understanding the design challenges of bimetallic catalysts, from both an organic and inorganic perspective, and utilization of these new catalysts for polymer synthesis. The target polymers are polyethers from epoxide homopolymerization, polycarbonates from epoxide/CO2 copolymerization, and polyesters from epoxide/anhydride copolymerization. The proposed work centers on developing bimetallic catalysts for environmentally benign epoxide transformations including polycarbonates from epoxide/CO2 copolymerization. Outreach activities include a variety of chemistry demonstrations and hands-on, inquiry based experiments in local elementary and middle schools. During the last funding period, the PI and his group have spent over 140 hours in K-12 outreach activities, interacting with 780 students and 201 teachers. The research on synthesizing plastics from natural substances is easily accessible by the general public and this research group endeavors to actively engage with television networks, newspapers and magazines to help the general public see that science has great potential to meet the needs of society in an environmentally responsible way.