Folded Supramolecular Copolymers

Marcus Weck教授在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学计划的支持下，研究多种合成的非生物聚合物的形成，这些聚合物折叠成二级结构，形成超分子嵌段共聚物，从而创造出具有明确3D结构的材料。这项研究的设计是基于合成一个小型遥控聚合物文库(构建块)，这些聚合物的链端包含非共价识别基序。每一块积木要么是螺旋的，要么是片状的，要么是随机卷曲的。这些构建块将被自组装成超分子主链嵌段共聚物，从而产生包含多个3D结构主题的单一材料。将进行系统的结构-性质关系研究，以阐明聚合物链长、嵌段长度和识别基序参数对聚合物构建块自组装行为的影响。这项拟议的研究是朝着合理设计定义良好的3D聚合物结构迈出的一步，这被认为是各种行业的下一代复合材料的关键要求，包括电光、能源、纳米科学和医疗领域的行业。这一聚合物化学和纳米科学项目将尖端研究与本科生和研究生的培训相结合，并开展广泛的外联活动，以加强对K-12学童对聚合物科学的理解和教学。

Professor Marcus Weck is supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division to study the formation of multiple synthetic non-biological polymers, which fold into secondary structures, into supramolecular block copolymers thereby creating materials with well-defined 3D architectures. The research design is based on the synthesis of a small library of telechelic polymers (building blocks) that contain noncovalent recognition motifs at their chain ends. Each building block is either helical, sheet-forming or a random coil. These building blocks will be self-assembled into supramolecular main-chain block copolymers yielding a single material containing multiple 3D architectural motifs. Systematic structure-property relationship studies to elucidate parameters of polymer chain lengths, block lengths, and recognition motif on the self-assembly behavior of the polymer building blocks will be carried out. The proposed study is a step towards the rational design of well-defined, 3D polymeric architectures, which has been postulated as a key requirement for the next generation of complex materials for a variety of industries including those in the electro-optics, energy, nanoscience and the medical fields. This project in polymer chemistry and nanoscience pairs cutting edge research with the training of undergraduate and graduate students and extensive outreach activities to enhance the understanding and teaching of polymer science to K-12 school children.