Reversible and Non-reversible Mechanically Connected Polymers and Copolymers

化学系的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目获此殊荣，支持弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学的哈里·W·吉布森教授开展新型聚合物材料的研究。这项研究探索了在分子水平上使用机械连接(螺纹环和结)以新颖的方式将聚合物结合在一起。塑料等聚合物在日常生活中无处不在，该研究计划寻求有效地制备新型和新型聚合物的方法，这些聚合物具有不寻常的和/或改善的性能，例如自我修复、对外部刺激(如机械应力、热、pH或溶剂)的响应以及橡胶状弹性。该项目的跨学科性质为不同的研究生和本科生群体提供了宝贵的技术培训，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。对高中的教育推广计划包括与聚合物有关的实践活动和日常生活中聚合物材料的讨论。更多地将这些主题纳入研究生和本科课程，预计将有助于这些学生为在工业中从事技术职业做好准备。聚合物化学和超分子科学的交叉为设计和制备具有特殊性质和潜在的新的实际应用的新材料提供了一个肥沃的空间。拟轮烷和轮烷的高保真自组装过程正在计划中，如果成功，应该会导致涉及机械连接的聚合物结构的形成。对主链中含有主体物种的聚合物利用穿线原理，将能够形成独特的瓶刷聚合物，其结构可以广泛而容易地变化，从而提供全新的聚合物类型。这些具有特殊结构的新材料有望具有新的性能和潜在的新的聚合物应用。例如，“滑链”聚合物中的假轮烷和轮烷键有望分别表现出“自我修复”性质和一种新型的弹性体行为。计划进行形态、流变学、热学和力学研究，以阐明这些体系区别于共价大分子的新性质和响应，为通过超分子科学可能实现的性质提供新的见解。

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry is supporting Professor Harry W. Gibson at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University perform research on new polymeric materials. The research explores the use of mechanical linkages (threaded loops and knots) at the molecular scale to bind polymers together in novel ways. Polymers such as plastics are ubiquitous in everyday life and this research program seeks ways to efficiently prepare new and novel types of polymers with unusual and/or improved properties, e.g., self-healing, response to external stimuli, such as mechanical stress, heat, pH or solvents, and rubber-like elasticity. The interdisciplinary nature of this project provides valuable technical training to a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students including those from underrepresented groups. Educational outreach to high schools is planned to include hands-on polymer-related activities and discussions of polymeric materials in everyday life. Increased inclusion of these topics in the graduate and undergraduate curriculum is expected to contribute to the preparedness of such students for technical careers in industry. The intersection of polymer chemistry and supramolecular science offers a fertile space for the design and preparation of new materials with unusual properties and potentially novel practical applications. High fidelity self-assembly processes for pseudorotaxanes and rotaxanes are planned and, if successful, should lead to the formation of polymeric architectures that involve mechanical linkages. Utilization of the threading principle with polymers that contain host species in the backbone would enable formation of unique bottle brush polymers whose structures can be varied widely and easily, providing entirely new types of polymers. These new materials with unusual architectures are expected to possess novel properties and the potential for new polymer applications. For example, the pseudorotaxane and rotaxane linkages in "slip-link" polymers are expected to display "self-healing" properties and a new type of elastomeric behavior, respectively. Morphological, rheological, thermal and mechanical studies are planned to elucidate the novel properties and responses of these systems that distinguish them from covalent macromolecules, providing new insights into the properties that may be achievable through supramolecular science.