Abstract:
The ability to design copolymers with precisely controlled composition opens pathways to functional materials with highly tunable properties. The first part of this talk will focus on designing block copolymers that self-assemble into luminescent polymer dots with organelle-targeting capabilities. These materials overcome the limitations of commercial organelle trackers and small-molecule dyes, with potential applications in time-resolved bioimaging. By leveraging ring-opening metathesis polymerization, well-defined block copolymers with lysosomal and mitochondrial targeting functionalities were obtained.
The second part of the talk examines the mechanochemical functionalization of polyolefins under ball-mill grinding conditions to yield functional copolymers. By grinding various polyolefins with polymers incorporating diverse polar functional groups, both constituting sources of polymeric waste, we exploit the macroradicals generated by chain scission to produce copolymers with enhanced mechanical properties.
Together, this work highlights how polymer structures—whether synthesized from monomers or obtained through post-polymerization modification —can be rationally designed to access materials with tailored properties.