Morphology Control of Olefin Based Homo- and Copolymers in Catalytic Gas-Phase, Slurry and Emulsion Polymerization

在这个由化学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助的项目中，佛罗里达大学化学系的Kenneth Wagener和Stephen Miller将研究现有聚烯烃结构的结构扩展。这一目标将通过各种方法实现。随着新开发的单位点催化剂，催化剂结构、活化过程、聚合动力学（均相和非均相条件下）等特征，特别是固定/支撑技术将被控制，以开发新的聚合体系。关键参数包括弹性控制、产品形态（产品颗粒的大小、形状）、聚合物分子量、共聚单体掺入和共聚单体序列分布。需要解决的特殊挑战是聚烯烃核壳结构的形成和极性单体的使用。此外，聚烯烃纳米颗粒的难以捉摸的形成将寻求。将采用跨学科的方法，并结合和利用五个独立研究小组的优势。五位主要研究人员是Klaus m<e:1> llen（德国美因茨马克斯-普朗克聚合物研究所）、Brigitte Voit（德国德累斯顿莱布尼茨聚合物研究所）、Kenneth Wagener、Stephen Miller和Heloise O. Pastore（巴西坎皮纳斯大学）。更广泛的影响包括举办关于研究主题的研讨会，与聚烯烃公司的科学互动，以及对美国研究生的国际培训。研究生将在外国合作者的实验室进行几个月的研究项目。这些学生交换将有助于发展研究和教育的基础设施，并大大提高他们的培训经验的国际层面。这一研究项目的成功实施将导致新型塑料材料的性能比现有产品得到改善和微调。存在各种各样的潜在应用，包括强轻质塑料，复合材料和特种聚合物。

In this project, funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Kenneth Wagener and Stephen Miller of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida will investigate the architectural expansion of available polyolefin structures. This objective will be made possible through a variety of methods. With newly developed single-site catalysts, characteristics such as catalyst structure, activation processes, polymerization kinetics-under homogeneous as well as heterogeneous conditions-and, especially, immobilization/supporting techniques will be controlled for the development of new polymerization systems. Key parameters include control of tacticity, product morphology (size, shape of product particles), polymer molecular weight, comonomer incorporation, and comonomer sequence distribution. Special challenges to be addressed are the formation of core-shell structures of polyolefins and the use of polar monomers. Also, the elusive formation of polyolefin nanoparticles will be sought. An interdisciplinary approach will be applied and strengths found in five separate research groups will be combined and exploited. The five lead investigators are Klaus Müllen (Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany), Brigitte Voit (Leibniz-Institute für Polymerforschung, Dresden, Germany), Kenneth Wagener, Stephen Miller, and Heloise O. Pastore (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil). The broader impacts involve holding workshops on the research topics, scientific interactions with polyolefin companies, and international training of U.S. graduate students. Graduate students will conduct their research projects in the laboratory of a foreign collaborator for several months. These student exchanges will help develop an infrastructure for research and education and greatly enhance the international dimension of their training experience.The successful execution of this research project will result in new plastic materials with properties that are improved and finely-tuned compared to available products. There exists a wide variety of potential applications, including strong lightweight plastics, composite materials, and specialty polymers.