The Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry supports the collaborative research program of Profs. Yongmei Wang at the University of Memphis and Tibor Macko of the Deutches Kunstoff-Instituet. The award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering at NSF, and coordinates with a collaborative award funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The work utilizes theoretical/computational methods to explore new chromatographic separation systems of polyolefins according to their chemical composition and chain architectures. Polyolefins are the most widely produced synthetic polymer commodity worldwide. Like most synthetic polymer samples, they have distributions in molar mass, chemical composition, functionality, and/or chain architectures. Although other analytical methods such as preparative fractionation followed by NMR analysis can be used for determination of some of these distributions, chromatography-based methods often enjoy better robustness and efficiency. These studies entail collaboration with scientists at the German Institute of Polymer Science (DKI) to develop adsorption- and/or precipitation-based liquid chromatographic separation modes for polyolefins, thereby enabling chromatographic-based separation according to chemical composition and/or chain architectures.
The broader impact of this project includes both a technical aspect and an education component. Development of chromatographic separations of polyolefins based on adsorption and/or precipitation will enable faster and more detailed molecular characterization. This in turn will impact industries that produce approximately 100 million tons of polyolefins annually. The project also supports training of graduate and undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary area that involves statistical mechanics theory, polymer science, and surface and separation science. The project engages students in international scientific collaboration, preparing them to be future international leaders in research and education.
