GOALI, SusChem: Organocatalysis for Sustainable Polymer Chemistry

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In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Robert Waymouth of Stanford University, in collaboration with Dr. James Hedrick of IBM, will develop new catalysts and catalytic methods for the generation of biodegradable materials and plastics from renewable resources. The research will focus on the development of environmentally benign organic catalysts for the synthesis of new families of functional oligomers, polymers and macromolecular assemblies. These materials are targeted as alternatives to petrochemically-derived plastics and as new families of biodegradable materials for biomedical applications. Mechanistic and synthetic investigations of zwitterionic ring-opening polymerization will be carried out to generate large cyclic macromolecules - a class of materials that remain poorly understood as a consequence of the paucity of synthetic methods to generate large ring macromolecules. The discovery of a new synthetic method for the generation of cyclic polymers also provides an opportunity to investigate one of the most basic problems in polymer science, notably the influence of endgroups and polymer topology on the properties of macromolecular materials. Complementary efforts will focus on the development of new strategies for the synthesis of biodegradable polyesters, polyamides, poly(phosphoesters) and polyurethanes and their assembly into biocompatible materials. The broader impacts involve the potential societal benefits of sustainable polymers / plastics, providing an excellent training ground for project participants via an academic-industry collaboration, and participation in an outreach program to local high school teachers.New synthetic methods drive innovation in polymer chemistry and materials science. The development of renewable materials whose physical properties are competitive with existing petroleum based plastics, but whose environmental footprint is smaller than that of existing materials is a grand challenge. This research seeks to meet these challenges with the development of organic catalysts and initiators as environmentally attractive alternatives to metal-based strategies for polymer synthesis. This program provides a model collaborative academic / industrial collaboration between Stanford and IBM Almaden Laboratories that will advance new strategies in polymer synthesis and create new technologies for polymerization and recycling of polyester thermoplastics, the generation of renewable plastics and new functional materials for biomedical applications.