This award, supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program and the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, funds research on polymerization catalysts by Dr. Steven H. Strauss of the Chemistry Department, Colorado State University. The award is made under the GOALI (Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaisons with Industry) program and includes a collaboration with Dr. Andrew Bell of the BFGoodrich Specialty Chemicals Company, Cleveland, Ohio. The researchers will investigate fundamental questions related to the application of new weakly coordinating anions (WCAs) to cycloolefin polymerization. The new WCAs will be composed of fluoroalkoxide groups and other ligands including alkoxides, alkyl groups, and aryl groups attached to aluminum or boron centers. Some of the key criteria for these species include thermal stability, hydrocarbon solubility, and ability to activate Ni(II) and Pd(II) procatalyts for the addition polymerization of norbornene and substituted norbornenes and for the addition copolymerization of norbornenes and substituted norbornenes with a variety of alpha-olefins. The coordinating ability and the ion-pairing characteristics of the new WCAs will be determined and used to shape the design, synthesis, and testing of new cycloolefin polymerization catalysts.
Cycloolefins and related polymers are widely used in microelectronics and other applications and are produced in great quantity worldwide. The goal of this research is to develop new production catalysts that are more thermally stable and activators that are more soluble in hydrocarbons. Both graduate and undergraduate students will have an opportunity to experience industrial as well as academic approaches to research by becoming part of a larger research team. One student each year will spend three months in residence at the BFGoodrich laboratories to gain firsthand knowledge of working in an industrial environment.
