CAREER: New Polymeric Material Design at the Interfaces with Biology and Catalysis

拟议的研究在两个界面上探索新的聚合物材料设计：（1）材料和生物学，以及（2）材料和催化剂。 在第一个界面，高价值的先进聚合物材料的目标是模仿天然材料中使用的结构和策略。 肌联蛋白的显著结合强度和韧性似乎源自其模块化结构，其包括线性排列的结构域，其中每个结构域通过次级力保持在一起。 合成聚合物将使用模拟肌联蛋白的模块化、多域设计的分子纳米结构来构建。 这些材料将在单分子和散装材料水平上进行检测。 材料-催化界面的拟议研究旨在从简单的商业单体开发新的聚合物材料。 基于以往的成功，提出了新的方向，以扩大使用催化剂的范围，通过催化控制聚合物的可调拓扑结构，并通过催化与非常规拓扑结构的聚合物的设计。 在合成工作的同时，新聚合物的物理特性和潜在应用将通过与校园和附近大学的化学家，材料科学家和工程师的合作进行研究。PI在未来4- 5年的教育目标是在欧文的加州大学建立一个强大的聚合物材料项目。 目前这个校园的快速增长和跨校园材料倡议提供了一个很好的机会来实施这一计划。 开始努力整合跨几个学科的聚合物科学课程，以促进跨学科的互动和合作。 本科教育的目标是通过介绍高分子科学的基本概念和基本知识，激发学生对高分子的兴趣。 将注意互动教学方法，聚合物对我们社会的相关性，以及本科实验室研究。 研究生高分子教育的目标是通过对每种聚合反应的基本机理、热力学和动力学的积极处理，为学生提供高分子化学的坚实基础，同时涵盖高分子科学的主要研究领域和最新进展。 这些广泛的主题将以跨学科的方式进行处理，并将制定课程格式，以鼓励更多的学生参与。 除了课程开发，辅导也在实验室，课堂和研讨会的背景下突出。 拟议的研究将增加对基于纳米级结构组织实现优异材料性能的分子机制的理解，并生产具有潜在生物医学应用的材料。 深入了解这些材料的分子性质和它们的性能之间的关系应该允许合理的材料设计。 新聚合物合成的催化路线的拟议研究具有从简单和容易获得的单体制备具有复杂拓扑结构的新聚合物材料的潜力。

The proposed research explores new polymeric material design at two interfaces: (1) materials and biology, and (2) materials and catalysts. At the first interface, high value advanced polymeric materials is targeted by mimicking the structures and strategies used in natural materials. The remarkable combined strength and toughness of muscle protein, titin, appears to derive from their modular structures comprising a linear array of domains, in which each domain is held together by secondary forces. Synthetic polymers will be constructed using molecular nanostructures that simulate the modular, multi-domain design of titin. These materials will be tested a both single molecule and bulk material level. The proposed research at the material-catalysis interface is targeted at developing new polymeric materials from simple commercial monomers. Built upon previous successes, new directions are proposed to expand the scope of using catalysts to control polymers with tunable topologies via catalysis, and design of polymers with unconventional topologies via catalysis. In parallel to the synthetic effort, the physical properties and potential applications for the new polymers will be investigated through collaborations with chemists, materials scientists and engineers on campus and at universities nearby.%%%The PI's educational goal for the next 4-5years is to build a strong polymer materials program at the University of California at Irvine. The current rapid growth of this campus and the cross campus Materials Initiative provide an excellent opportunity to implement this plan. An effort was initiated to integrate the course offerings in polymer science across a few disciplines to foster interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations. The goal in the undergraduate education is to spark their interests in polymer during introducing the basic concepts and essential knowledge of polymer science. Attention will be paid to interactive teaching methods, the relevance of polymers to our society, and the undergraduate laboratory research. The goal in graduate polymer education is to provide students a solid foundation in polymer chemistry by vigorous treatments of the fundamental mechanism, thermodynamics, and kinetics of each type of polymerization while in the meantime cover major research areas and recent progresses in polymer science. These broad topics will be approached in an interdisciplinary manner and the course format will be developed to encourage greater student involvement. In addition to curriculum development, mentoring also figures prominently in laboratory, classroom, and seminar contexts. The proposed research will increase understanding of the molecular mechanisms for achieving excellent material properties based on structural organization at nanoscale and produce materials with potential biomedical applications. Insight into the relation between the molecular properties of these materials and their performance should allow rational materials designs. The proposed research on catalytic route to new polymer synthesis has the potential to make new polymeric materials with complex topologies from simple and readily available monomers.