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

聚合物广泛存在于社会各个领域，是一种重要的、用途广泛的材料，其性质由聚合物的结构决定。在这个由化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助的项目中，斯坦福大学的夏燕教授开发了新的合成策略，共同应对控制聚合物结构、功能和降解性方面的挑战。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官能化和精确结构的聚合物。该项目为本科生和研究生提供了宝贵的培训经验，以继续提高我们合成复杂大分子结构的能力。该计划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生的招生和留住，特别是旧金山湾区代表性不足的学生；2)提高公众对软材料的认识，包括商品和高端塑料，通过新的化学和工程；3)在本科和研究生教育中将有机化学与材料科学相结合，以培养跨学科的研究人员。本研究的目标是提供关于复分解化学的新见解，单体反应的新模式，以及新的合成策略，以制备定义明确的聚合物和具有定制性能的材料。该项目开发活性交替开环歧化聚合(AROMP)和热力学驱动的单单体加成，以控制聚合物主链和侧链的官能度、微结构和单体序列。调整聚合物的材料性能和组装行为的方法是通过控制结构规则，它还整合了更广泛的教育努力：1)通过当地访问和社交媒体，促进湾区理科专业招收和留住未被充分代表的学生；2)提高公众对新化学带来的商品和高端塑料的认识；以及3)在斯坦福大学的本科课程中将有机化学与聚合物科学相结合，以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.