The Seed 1 group seeks to fully develop the synthesis of linear, random poly(ethylene-co-X) materials possessing, for instance, ester, acid, or anhydride functionality directly from industrial monomers using a robust family of transition metal catalysts discovered by us. The self-assembly of the resulting amphiphilic macromolecules can be driven by crystallization of hydrophobic polyolefin domains, in both bulk and solution, leading to nanostructured morphologies distinct from those driven by interblock repulsion, and the scalable routes we will develop to substantial quantities of these amphiphilic materials will facilitate detailed exploration of this self-assembly behavior.  

Principal Investigators
Brad Carrow (Chemistry)
Richard Register (Chemical and Biological Engineering)

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