The development of synthetic methods that lead to polymers with specific functionality at well-defined locations is essential in the design of new polymeric materials. This project focuses on a synthetic pathway that places an amine end group on vinyl polymers at the onset of the polymerization, meaning that the amine group is anchored to the growing polymer chain. The ultimate goal of this research is the synthesis of chemically diverse polymers bearing secondary amine groups at the end of each polymer chain. The ability of the polymeric amine end groups to be transformed further by accepted reactions coupled with their potential use in solid state catalysis makes amine-terminated polymers valuable.
Research accomplished by undergraduate students has already established the viability of the proposed work as a means to synthesize amine-terminated polymers, while additionally proving the required experimental techniques are appropriate in an undergraduate setting. Students working on this project will gain experience in synthetic polymer and organic chemistry, while also being trained to characterize their polymeric products using gel permeation chromatography, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Notably, Bucknell has recently acquired a six hundred megahertz Varian NMR spectrometer, which will prove to be a powerful tool in characterization of the polymers.
