CAREER: Site-Differentiated Bimetallic Catalysts for Precise Polyolefin Synthesis

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Polymers are one of the most widely used man-made materials today. Their applications range from common plastic bags to life-saving medical devices. Many methods currently used to make polymers are inefficient, energy intensive, and/or require expensive raw materials. To promote more sustainable manufacturing practices, Dr. Loi Do is developing new ways to create polymers directly from naturally occurring and readily available raw materials. The key to Dr. Do's technology is the use of new catalysts that control how the raw material building blocks are connected to form polymers. This research benefits society by providing new materials that can improve our quality of life. Dr. Do is also actively involved in outreach activities that integrate his interests in industrial chemistry at the University of Houston (UH). Dr. Do is creating programs that give high school and undergraduate students the opportunity to interact with professional scientists and learn about chemistry in everyday life. Dr. Do excites students about pursuing careers in STEM fields. Dr. Do is also engaging in hands-on laboratory training and mentoring of young chemists to prepare them to become the next generation of scientific leaders. With funding from the Chemical Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division, Dr. Do at the University of Houston (UH) is developing new sustainable routes to access technologically useful polyolefins. This research seeks to eliminate the need to use expensive alpha olefin co-monomers in the preparation of low- and medium-density polyethylene and to overcome the tendency of transition metal catalysts to be inhibited by polar vinyl olefins. Dr. Do's bimetallic catalysts take advantage of metal-metal cooperativity to achieve reactivity patterns that are distinct from those of conventional monometallic catalysts. These studies are being guided by mechanistic investigations using spectroscopic tools to interrogate the nature of observable reaction intermediates and computational methods to evaluate the energy barriers of discrete reaction steps. This work is critical to our understanding of olefin polymerization catalysis and may provide insights into where catalyst design improvements could be made. Dr. Do is also initiating educational outreach plans that will introduce young students to the chemical profession. The objectives of Dr. Do's educational activities are to make learning chemistry accessible to the general public and give chemistry majors at UH the practical skills that they need to be successful in their independent careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.