Fundamentals and recent advances in controlled radical polymerization

Speaker: Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Professor of Natural Sciences and Director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

Conventional free radical polymerization is among the most frequently employed polymerization procedures to prepare over 100 million tons of commercial polymers. However, these polymers are ill-defined with high dispersity, uncontrolled molecular weight, topology, or composition. This is due to a very short lifetime of propagating radicals (<1 second) and slow initiation. New controlled radical polymerization (CRP) procedures (also called reversible deactivation radical polymerization) dramatically changed the control of polymer microstructure, enabling concurrent growth of polymer chains within minutes, hours, or even days, resulting in well-defined polymeric materials. Copper-based ATRP (atom transfer radical polymerization) catalytic systems with polydentate nitrogen ligands are among the most efficient CRP systems. Recently, by applying new initiating/catalytic systems, Cu level in ATRP was reduced to a few ppm. ATRP of acrylates, methacrylates, styrenes, acrylamides, acrylonitrile and other vinyl monomers was controlled by various external stimuli, including electrical current, light, mechanical forces, and ultrasound, also in the presence of air.

Profile

We are delighted to host Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski for the 2024 Melville Lectureship. Professor Kris Matyjaszewski is the J.C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences and director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. In 1994, he discovered Cu-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization, which was commercialized in 2004 in US, Japan and Europe. He has synthesized many advanced materials for biomedical, environmental, and energy-related applications and has co-authored >1,300 publications, (>192,000 citations, h-index 209) and has 69 US patents. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, European, Australian, Polish, Hungarian, and Georgian Academies of Sciences. He received the 2023 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences, 2021 Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, France, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, 2015 Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences, 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, and thirteen doctorates honoris causa.
 
Professor Matyjaszewski will be visiting our department for the week of 13 May and delivering two lectures.