CAREER: Controlling Polymer Degradation, Microstructures, and Sequences via Living Alternating Polymerization of Cyclopropenes and Low-Strain Cyclic Olefins

聚合物无处不在，在无数的社会领域中作为重要的和通用的材料，它们的性能是由聚合物结构决定的。该项目由斯坦福大学化学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助，由斯坦福大学夏岩教授开发新的合成策略，共同解决控制聚合物结构、功能和可降解性方面的挑战。该项目的基础研究和方法开发旨在合成具有定制性能的高度功能化和精确结构的聚合物。本项目为本科生和研究生继续提高合成复杂大分子结构的能力提供了宝贵的训练经验。该项目整合了多个层面的教育努力：1)利用课后教育活动和社交媒体促进高中学生的招生和保留，特别是湾区代表性不足的学生；2)通过新的化学和工程技术，提高公众对软材料（包括商品和高端塑料）的认识；3)在本科和研究生教育中结合有机化学与材料科学，培养跨学科的研究人员。本研究的目标是为复分解化学提供新的见解，单体反应性的新模式，以及新的合成策略，以制备具有定制性能的明确定义的聚合物和材料。该项目开发了活性交替开环复分解聚合（AROMP）和热力学驱动的单体添加物，以控制聚合物的主链和侧链功能，微观结构和单体序列。调整材料性能和组装行为的方法是通过控制结构的规律性。它还整合了更广泛的教育努力，以：1)通过当地访问和社交媒体，促进湾区科学专业中代表性不足的学生的招聘和保留；2)提高公众对新化学带来的商品和高端塑料的认识；3)在斯坦福大学本科课程中将有机化学与高分子科学结合起来，培养未来的跨学科研究人员。

Polymers are ubiquitous and serve as important and versatile materials in a myriad of societal sectors, and their properties are dictated by the polymer structures. In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Yan Xia of Stanford University develops new synthetic strategies to collectively address the challenges in controlling polymer structure, functionality and degradability. Fundamental studies and method development of this project aim to enable the synthesis of highly functionalized and precisely structured polymers with tailored properties. This project provides valuable training experiences for undergraduate and graduate students to continue to advance our ability to synthesize complex macromolecular structures. This program integrates educational endeavors at several levels to 1) use after-school educational activities and social media to facilitate recruitment and retention of high school students, especially underrepresented students in the Bay Area; 2) enhance the public awareness of soft materials, both commodity and high-end plastics, enabled by new chemistry and engineering; 3) interface organic chemistry with materials science in undergraduate and graduate education to cultivate interdisciplinary researchers.The goal of this research is to provide new insights of metathesis chemistry, new patterns of monomer reactivity, and new synthetic strategies to prepare well-defined polymers and materials with tailored properties. This project develops living alternating ring-opening metathesis polymerization (AROMP) and thermodynamically driven single monomer additions to control polymer backbone and side chain functionalities, microstructures, and monomer sequences. The approach to tune materials properties and assembly behaviors of the resulting polymers is by controlling the structural regularity.It also integrates broader educational endeavors to: 1) facilitate recruitment and retention of underrepresented students in the Bay Area in science majors through local visits and social media; 2) enhance the public awareness of both commodity and high-end plastics enabled by new chemistry; and 3) interface organic chemistry with polymer science in Stanford undergraduate courses to cultivate future interdisciplinary researchers.