Shape and Dimensional Precision in Polymeric Nanostructures

Northwestern University At Chicago, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The goal of this project is to develop novel polymer-based materials that exhibit unique properties above and beyond what has been available to technology at large for over half a century. Soft polymeric materials such as plastics, rubbers, adhesives, and lightweight composites have been extremely useful to society in consumer goods, transportation, biomedical technology, manufacturing, and national security, among other areas. In this project new polymeric materials are proposed that combine the useful characteristics of currently used soft materials with ability to respond to their environment by delivering beneficial chemical molecules, changing physical properties as needed, or even repairing themselves. These novel polymers will be synthesized and their properities studied by a variety of techniques. The project requires the integration of materials science, synthetic chemistry, physics, and computational sciences. The research project is therefore an interdisciplinary platform not only to advance many technologies, but also to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. It will help them for future integrated research in industry, academia, or government in order to develop the new materials needed to implement technologies of value in many sectors. Furthermore, all participants will have opportunities to engage in outreach with high school students and with the broader community. TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The goal of this project is to develop strategies to control the size, shape, and functionality of polymers based on strong and directional interactions between monomers of a supramolecular component and of a covalent macromolecular template. It is hypothesized that the simultaneous formation of the covalent template and of the supramolecular polymer could yield dynamic hybrid structures with macromolecular and supramolecular compartments. The key strategy is to design monomers that have the potential for multiple and strong non-covalent interactions. The proposed chemistry involves aromatic foldamers or fluorinated methacrylates as templates and supramolecular polymers containing amino acid sequences. One potential novel function of the hybrids is delivery of the supramolecular component into an environment followed by the facile reconstitution of the hybrid structure with additional monomer. In another strategy, the formation of complex structures through supramolecular polymerizations will be seeded by spherical or cylindrical hybrids. In order to investigate the potential novel functionality of the hybrids, the project will also investigate systems that incorporate electron donors and electron acceptors. The challenging synthetic work will be carried by a postdoctoral fellow and the structural, functional, and any necessary computational work by a graduate student. The postdoctoral fellow will gain mentoring experience by working with a graduate student as a team, and both will participate in outreach activities with high school students and the broader community. At the same time, the highly interdisciplinary nature of the research will contribute greatly to all involved.