CAREER: Controlling mechanical properties of materials using photoactive metal coordination bonds

在这个由化学部化学结构、动力学与机制B项目和材料研究部聚合物项目资助的CAREER项目中，鲍灵格林州立大学的Alexis Ostrowski教授正在进行基础研究，重点是通过在聚合物中集成过渡金属离子来控制材料的光学和机械性能。聚合物分布广泛，已成为生活中不可缺少的一部分。不同的聚合物具有不同的性质和用途。含有光活性金属离子的聚合物允许光调谐聚合物的光学和机械性能。这些聚合物可以潜在地用作高级可愈合或耐刮涂层。它们也可以利用光来制作图案，并用于组织工程等生物应用。对于她的教育计划，Ostrowski教授正在努力通过探索当地植物的聚合物将化学与学生的日常生活联系起来，从而促进社区和学生的参与。她还在开发基于手机的低成本技术，用于自己动手测量颜色。这些低成本的技术是教授学生光谱学和光化学的有用工具。用更专业的术语来说，Ostrowski教授的目标是通过控制聚合物中金属配位键的相互作用来控制材料的机械性能。为了设计这种材料，需要对金属聚合物组装和反应性的机制有深入的了解。为了发展这些结构-功能关系，金属聚合物体系中金属-配位相互作用的动力学变化是为了改变体性质（例如刚度、弹性和光反应性）。以前的工作主要集中在具有特定配位几何的配体和缺乏光化学反应性的金属离子的材料上。这个项目的重点是开发具有可变配体结合几何形状的材料。具体系统包括1)生物相容性多糖聚合物（例如海藻酸盐）和2)含有可调配基的模型合成聚合物-两者都与不同氧化态的各种过渡金属（如铁，钴，铜和锰）配合。

In this CAREER project funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B Program of the Chemistry Division and the Polymers Program of the Division of Materials Research, Professor Alexis Ostrowski from Bowling Green State University is conducting fundamental research focused on controlling the optical and mechanical properties of materials by integrating transition metal ions within polymers. Polymers are widespread and have become an indispensable part of life. Different polymers have different properties and applications. Polymers incorporating photoactive metal ions allow the tuning of optical and mechanical properties of the polymers with light. These polymers can potentially be used as advanced healable or scratch-resistant coatings. They may also be patterned using light and used for biological applications such as tissue engineering. For her educational plan, Professor Ostrowski is working to promote community and student engagement by connecting chemistry to students' everyday lives through exploration of polymers from local plants. She is also developing low cost mobile-phone based technologies for do-it-yourself color measurements. These low cost technologies are useful tools for teaching students spectroscopy and photochemistry.In more technical terms, Professor Ostrowski's goal is to control the mechanical properties of materials by controlling the metal coordination bonding interactions in the polymers. To enable the design of such materials, a deep understanding of the mechanisms involved in the metal-polymer assembly and reactivity is required. To develop these structure-function relationships, the dynamics of the metal-coordination interactions in the metallopolymer systems are varied in order to change the bulk properties (e.g. stiffness and elasticity, and photoreactivity). Previous work has focused on materials with ligands presenting specific coordination geometry, and metal ions that lack photochemical reactivity. This project focuses on developing materials with variable ligand binding geometries. Specific systems include 1) biocompatible polysaccharide polymers (e.g. alginate) and 2) model synthetic polymers containing tunable ligand groups-- both coordinated to a variety of transition metals such as iron, cobalt, copper and manganese in different oxidation states.