Students

Chemistry 406: Polymer Chemistry

Course Level: 
Fourth Year
Academic Year: 
2020/2021

A. Polymer Basics (4-5 lectures)
-       History of polymers chemistry (natural vs. synthetic)
-       Staudinger’s macromolecular hypothesis
-       Classification of macromolecules (common terms: e.g. linear, branched, block, graft, dendrimer, etc.)
-       Passive vs. active polymers
-       Naming Rules (systematic and common names)

B. Characterizing Polymers (5-10 lectures)
-       Molecular Weights and Distributions
-       Measuring molecular weight  (GPC, light scattering)
-       The viscoelastic state
-       Tg and Tm - thermodynamics of first and second order transitions derived from Gibbs free energy
-       Structural factors affecting Tg and Tm
-       Measuring Tg and Tm (DSC)

C. Polymer synthesis (15 lectures)
-       Addition Polymerization
-       radical (thermodynamics and Kinetics, Regiochemistry, Ceiling Temperature)
-       Cationic, Living Anionic Polymerization
-       Ring-Opening Polymerization (ring strain)
-       Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization
-       Step Polymerization (Kinetics, ie Carothers equation, Industrial Methods e.g.:  PET, Polycarbonate, nylon-6,6, urethane foam, silicone, etc)

D. Advanced topics (8 lectures)                                    
-       Controlled radical polymerization:  ATRP, NMP, RAFT)
-       Inorganic Polymers (silicones, phosphazenes)
-       ROP of lactones by In catalysts (PM)
-       Bioplastics
-       Biomaterials