Professor Eugene Chen of Colorado State University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program to develop polymerization catalysts utilizing cation/anion pairs to control chain growth. Expansion of recent advances in diastereospecific ion-pairing polymerization form the basis for this project. This research program has four objectives: to control polymer microstructure, to develop syndiospecific polymerization of functionalized vinyl monomers, to utilize binuclear cation/anion combinations to improve selectivity, and to use biorenewable monomers to form stereoregular polymers.
The broader impacts of this project include polymerization of polar monomers, a reaction of widespread industrial significance. This is an interdisciplinary project with organic synthesis, catalytic organometallic reactions, and new polymer microstructures as components. The training of students in sophisticated experimental and theoretical techniques in industrially important polymerization areas is another feature of this project.
