Radical Routes to New Copolymeric Materials

Oklahoma State University, Stillwater OK

Investigators

Abstract

Two new types polymers will be synthesized and characterized in the laboratory of the principal investigator, and some of their properties will be determined in greater depth in the laboratories of collaborators. Thousands of polymer colloids (also known as latexes) will be synthesized in parallel by emulsion copolymerization of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers in search of copolymers that exhibit new morphologies. Visual tests will be used to determine which latexes form opalescent films, and which will separate into phases like those of polymer blends. Copolymers formed by emulsion polymerization, which has been used for the manufacture synthetic rubber latex and coatings for more than fifty years, may provide a low cost alternative to block copolymers that are used now to stabilize polymer blends. The chemical and physical bases for the transformation of colloidal crystals of a styrene-hydroxyethyl methacrylate latex to porous polymer nets will investigated. The polymer nets will be explored as separation media for polymers and colloids, as solid supports for catalysts, and as templates for preparation of photonic bandgap materials. Optical properties of the materials will be studied in collaboration with Profs. Ackerson and Tong in the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Department of Physics. Model polymampholytes will be synthesized to enable testing of current theory of their structures and properties in aqueous solutions. Polyampholytes are synthetic synthetic analogues of proteins that contain (+) and (-) charged units in a single polymer chain. They will be prepared by living radical polymerization of uncharged monomers followed by functional group transformations to create the charged units. The compositions, structures, and molecular weights of the polymers will be determined at OSU. The model polyampholytes will be provided to Prof. Colby of Pennsylvania State University for measurements of viscosity of aqueous solutions, electrical charge on the polymer chains, and dielectric response, and those results will be compared with new theories of polyampholytes by Prof. Rubinstein of the University of North Carolina. %%% This research is in the general areas of nanoscience, bio-related polymers, and combinational chemistry. Students earning graduate degrees from this research will gain experience at polymer synthesis and characterization in the laboratory of the principal investigator, and in properties of polymer solutions at Penn State or optical properties of colloidal materials in physics at OSU. In addition to meeting degree requirements in chemistry, the graduate students (and the postdoctoral scholar) will participate in the interdisciplinary workshops and short courses of the Oklahoma Network for Nanostructured materials (NanoNet), a newly formed group of faculty in chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, and electrical engineering at OSU, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Tulsa. The broad scientific base will prepare them for industrial research and development or university teaching.