Multi-anionic Pincer Ligand Catalysts and Ring Expansion Alkyne Metathesis Polymerization (REAMP)

化学学部的化学催化、大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目支持佛罗里达大学Adam Veige教授的项目。线性聚合物由于其导电性、光学非线性、光导电性、透气性和液体结晶性而在许多应用中都很有用。Veige团队寻求发现新的催化剂，以产生这些聚合物的循环版本，以探索进一步提高其材料性能的新机会。由于技术问题，环聚合物目前还没有商业化。Veige教授和他的同事们正致力于使循环聚合的催化剂更加坚固和高效。该项目还通过本科研究项目为有抱负的年轻化学家提供实践培训。维格集团每年举办“商场化学日”活动，每年有50名研究生和本科生向近500名儿童及其家长展示25项化学演示。本项目主要研究环高分子合成催化剂的合成与表征。环膨胀炔复分解聚合（REAMP）是未知的。维格小组的目标是制备一种能够引发前所未有的环烷基膨胀的系缚钨烷基炔。高度亲核的金属-碳多键可以使开环烯烃形成环状聚合物。两种新的钳形配体设计可能为REMP提供亲核钨烷基醚的途径。最后，目前的催化剂合成路线繁琐且效率低下，因此研究小组寻求从市售的起始材料合成高效的钼基催化剂，用于立体选择性环聚合物的合成。阐明环膨胀催化剂的有效合成策略有助于实现环聚合物在先进制造中的潜力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Chemical Catalysis and the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Programs of the Chemistry Division support the project by Professor Adam Veige of the University of Florida. Linear polymer are useful in numerous applications due to their electrical conductivity, optical nonlinearity, photoconductivity, gas permeability, and liquid-crystallinity. The Veige group seeks to discover new catalysts that produce cyclic versions of these polymers in order to explore new opportunities to further advance their materials properties. Because of technical problems, cyclic polymers are not currently commercially available. Professor Veige and his coworkers are focusing on making the catalysts for cyclic polymerizations more rugged and efficient. This project is also providing hands-on training for young aspiring chemists through the undergraduate research program. The Veige group hosts the annual "Chemistry Day at the Mall" event, which involves fifty graduate and undergraduate students exhibiting 25 chemistry demonstrations to nearly 500 children and their parents annually. This project focuses on the synthesis and characterization of catalysts for cyclic polymer synthesis. Ring expansion alkyne metathesis polymerization (REAMP) is unknown. The Veige group aims to prepare a tethered tungsten-alkylidyne capable of initiating the unprecedented ring expansion of cyclic alkynes. Highly nucleophilic metal-carbon multiple bonds can ring open cyclic alkenes to produce cyclic polymers. Two new pincer ligand designs may provide access to nucleophilic tungsten-alkylidynes for REMP. Finally, current catalyst synthesis routes are tedious and inefficient, so the research team seeks to synthesize highly effective Mo-based catalysts for stereoselective cyclic polymer synthesis from commercially available starting materials. Elucidating efficient synthetic strategies for ring expansion catalysts may help to realize the potential of cyclic polymers in advanced manufacturing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.