Measurement and Modeling of Polymerization Kinetics for Product and Process Development

提高生产率和利用现有设备生产新聚合物材料的需求，以及以经济高效、环保的方式取代现有工艺的能力，是聚合物行业的关键驱动因素。另一方面，学术研究往往侧重于从生物可再生原料合成新的聚合物，或开发具有高价值产品应用的可控微观结构的材料。学术界和工业界往往缺乏聚合动力学和机理的基本知识，这些知识是指导聚合物合成条件的过程和产品开发工作所必需的。我的研究填补了这一空白，通过应用专门的动力脉冲激光技术来测量标准实验无法获得的关键速率系数，在详细的机制模型中捕获知识，以表示聚合系统，并在相关条件下进行有针对性的实验研究，以测试和验证模型。我将利用我的NSERC发现基金将我的专业知识应用于有前途的新材料的开发，减少环境和生物医学应用的开发时间。

The need to increase production rates and produce new polymeric materials with existing equipment as well as the ability to replace processes with cost-effective and environmentally-friendly versions are key drivers in the polymers industry. On the other hand, academic research is often focused on the synthesis of new polymers from bio-renewable feedstock, or the development of materials with controlled microstructures for high value product applications. The fundamental knowledge of polymerization kinetics and mechanisms required to guide polymer synthesis conditions for both process and product development efforts is often lacking in both academia and industry. My research fills this gap by applying specialized kinetic pulsed-laser techniques to measure key rate coefficients not accessible through standard experimentation, capturing that knowledge in detailed mechanistic models formulated to represent polymerizing systems, and undertaking targeted experimental studies at relevant conditions to test and validate the models. I will use my NSERC Discovery funding to apply my expertise to the development of promising new materials, reducing the development time for environmental and biomedical applications. Specific target materials are a new water-soluble copolymer produced from the biosourced monomer Tulipalin-A, and biodegradable nanoparticles synthesized from novel poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactide) (PLA) based macromonomers that have application for targeted drug delivery. In both cases, improved knowledge of the kinetics is needed to better understand and control the radical copolymerization process used to synthesize these materials. The third project will develop continuous aqueous-phase controlled-radical polymerization processes to provide a more precise control of polymer chain microstructure, if needed for material application. As well as enabling the development of new materials with environmental and biomedical applications to complement my industrially-sponsored research on existing radical polymerization processes, the research will provide further insight into the role of hydrogen bonding on polymerization kinetics, a subject I am systematically investigating for non-biodegradable acrylic monomers. In addition, it will train new graduate students in expertise important to the Canadian polymers industries, and expose undergraduate students to practical material development and reaction engineering issues.