Bimetallic Catalysts for the Synthesis of Environmentally Benign Polymers

化学系的这一奖项支持康奈尔大学的杰弗里·科茨教授的研究，该研究旨在开发具有潜在用途的双金属络合物，作为合成聚合物材料的催化剂。这项工作将集中于环氧化物在聚合物合成中的应用，主要有三个原因：1)环氧化物是廉价的化学原料；2)环氧化物可以从生物可再生资源中提取；3)环氧化物可以用来制造聚醚、聚酯和聚碳酸酯，所有这些都可以在环境中安全地生物降解。工作的重点将是开发一系列用于环氧化物聚合的双金属锌钴络合物。具体目标是：1)开发能够控制聚合立体化学的手性催化剂，导致半结晶聚合物具有比其立体随机聚合物更好的性能；2)从有机和无机的角度了解双金属催化剂的设计挑战，以及这些新催化剂在聚合物合成中的应用。目标聚合物是环氧化物均聚的聚醚、环氧化物/二氧化碳共聚的聚碳酸酯和环氧化物/酸酐共聚的聚酯。拟议的工作重点是开发用于环境友好的环氧化物转化的双金属催化剂，包括环氧化物/二氧化碳共聚的聚碳酸酯。外展活动包括在当地小学和中学进行各种化学演示和动手、基于探究的实验。在上一个资助期内，国际学生联合会和他的小组在K-12外联活动中花费了140多个小时，与780名学生和201名教师进行了互动。从天然物质合成塑料的研究很容易为公众所接受，这个研究小组致力于积极参与电视网络、报纸和杂志的工作，帮助公众看到科学具有以对环境负责的方式满足社会需求的巨大潜力。

This award in the Division of Chemistry supports research by Professor Geoffrey Coates at Cornell University to develop new bimetallic complexes that have potential utility as catalysts for the synthesis of polymeric materials. The work will focus on the utilization of epoxides in polymer synthesis for three primary reasons: 1) epoxides are inexpensive chemical feedstocks; 2) epoxides can be derived from biorenewable sources; and 3) epoxides can be used to make polyethers, polyesters, and polycarbonates, all of which safely biodegrade in the environment. Work will focus on the development of a range of bimetallic zinc and cobalt complexes for epoxide polymerization. Specific objectives are: 1) the development of chiral catalysts that can control the stereochemistry of the polymerization, resulting in semi-crystalline polymers with improved properties over their stereorandom counterparts; 2) understanding the design challenges of bimetallic catalysts, from both an organic and inorganic perspective, and utilization of these new catalysts for polymer synthesis. The target polymers are polyethers from epoxide homopolymerization, polycarbonates from epoxide/CO2 copolymerization, and polyesters from epoxide/anhydride copolymerization. The proposed work centers on developing bimetallic catalysts for environmentally benign epoxide transformations including polycarbonates from epoxide/CO2 copolymerization. Outreach activities include a variety of chemistry demonstrations and hands-on, inquiry based experiments in local elementary and middle schools. During the last funding period, the PI and his group have spent over 140 hours in K-12 outreach activities, interacting with 780 students and 201 teachers. The research on synthesizing plastics from natural substances is easily accessible by the general public and this research group endeavors to actively engage with television networks, newspapers and magazines to help the general public see that science has great potential to meet the needs of society in an environmentally responsible way.