CAREER: CAS: Radical Cascade-Driven Polymerization and Depolymerization

凭借化学系高分子，超分子和纳米化学项目的职业奖，波士顿学院的贾牛教授正在设计和开发塑料合成和降解的新技术。 该方法使用高活性分子和基于铜、钌和铱的催化剂。 牛教授的研究也在使用计算方法来更好地了解这些反应是如何工作的，以及如何改进它们。 开环和闭环聚合反应在可持续性方面提供了独特的益处，因为它们能够使用环境友好的结构单元并在温和条件下降解。 这项研究有可能开发下一代材料，用于温度稳定的软物质，刺激响应材料和靶向药物输送。 该项目有助于在高度跨学科的研究环境中培养多样化的学生群体。 本科课程“设计自己的宠物筏”在实验室环境中训练本科生。 牛教授还开展了以微型课程“聚合物与你”为中心的外展活动。“本课程专为大波士顿地区6 - 9年级的城市无家可归儿童设计。这项研究的重点是开发一种新的聚合物合成策略，该策略采用自由基级联反应，为聚合物的受控合成和刺激提供关键驱动力触发精确主链聚合物的降解。 该项目有三个主要目标。 第一个目标集中在自由基开环聚合和夫妇的实验和计算技术，旨在优化几个重要的反应参数的结构-功能关系。 在第二个目标中，使用闭环级联聚合制备在主链中具有γ-内酰胺的聚合物。 最后一个目标集中在通过逐步增长和开环易位聚合技术的自分解聚合物的合成。 与该奖项相关的研究使得能够合成在主链中含有官能团的大分子，而不是侧链，这是与其他聚合技术相关的传统方法。 该研究具有高度的变革性，它可能为工业相关的受控自由基聚合提供一个新的令人兴奋的平台。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With this CAREER Award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Chemistry Division, Professor Jia Niu at Boston College is designs and develops new techniques for the synthesis and degradation of plastics. The method uses highly reactive molecules and catalysts based on copper, ruthenium, and iridium. Professor Niu's research is also using computational methods to better understand how these reactions work and how to improve them. Ring-opening and ring-closing polymerization reactions provide unique benefits in sustainability because of their ability use environmentally-friendly building blocks and degrade under mild conditions. This research has the potential to develop next-generation materials that are used in temperature-stable soft matter, stimuli-responsive materials, and targeted drug delivery. The project contributes to the training of a diverse group of students in a highly interdisciplinary research environment. The undergraduate course “Design Your Own Pet-RAFT” trains undergraduate students in a laboratory setting. Professor Niu also implements outreach activities centered on the minicourse “Polymers and You." This course is designed for 6th-9th grade urban homeless children in the greater Boston area.This research is focused on developing a new strategy for polymer synthesis that employs radical cascade reactions that provide the key driving force for the controlled synthesis of polymers and stimuli-triggered degradation of precision main-chain polymers. There are three main objectives associated with the project. The first objective focuses on structure-function relationships in radical ring opening polymerizations and couples experimental and computational techniques aimed at optimization of several important reaction parameters. In the second objective, polymers featuring gamma-lactams in the main backbone are prepared using ring-closing cascade polymerization. The last aim concentrates on the synthesis of self-immolative polymers via step-growth and ring-opening metathesis polymerizations techniques. Research associated with this award enables the synthesis of macromolecules that contain functional groups in the main backbone, rather than side chains which is the traditional approach associated with other polymerization techniques. The research is highly transformative and it could lead to a new exciting platform for industrially-relevant controlled radical polymerizations.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.