Thrust 1 One thrust of our research is focused on the use of free radical alternating copolymerization to prepare families of precisely charged copolymers. Polyampholytes as well as all anionic and all cationic polymers have been prepared. There are significant steric constraints along the polymer backbone due to the cyclic anhydride or imide functionality and steric crowding due to the two phenyl groups from the stilbene monomers. We are exploring fundamental issues such as chain stiffness vs. structure and charge density. We also are investigating new block copolymer systems to study the possibility of “like charge attraction” in these systems. Highly Functionalized Macromolecules Based on Copolymerization of Substituted Stilbene Monomers S. Richard Turner, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, DMR Scheme 1: Example of a polyanion based on a stilbene monomer Scheme 2: Synthetic scheme for hypercrosslinked polymer Thrust 2 A second thrust of our research is to incorporate these highly aromatic alternating structures into suspension polymerized polymer particles and hypercrosslink these particles into nanoporous structures with high surface areas. With the monomers shown in Scheme 2 we have demonstrated that we can produce polymer particles with enhanced glass transition temperatures. This strategy also has the advantage of producing particles with higher aromatic content than conventional styrenic systems. Such high-surface area functionalized nanoporous particles have potential for hydrogen storage and carbon dioxide capture applications.

Education Four graduate students, Yi Li, Xu Zhou, Alice Savage, and Jenny England have worked on various aspects of this project this past year. Three posters at ACS meetings have been presented by these students. An undergrad, Kevin Barr, worked this summer on the project and will continue in the fall. Outreach As Director of the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute (MII) at Virginia Tech, Turner participates in many outreach programs. MII hosts an NSF-REU program and the Director assists in broadening and enriching the experience of the undergrads by sponsoring team building exercises, picnics, and presenting lectures on intellectual property and step-growth polymerizations. Under the director’s guidance MII published two newsletters directed toward enhancing communications with industrial collaborators and organized an outreach program “Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech: Enabling a Healthy and Sustainable World.” This program, scheduled for October 2010, will consist of over 100 student posters, 24 faculty lectures, and 3 external plenary lectures. Turner also was a member of the organizing committee that successfully bid to host the IUPAC World Polymer Congress at Virginia Tech in Kevin Barr, Xu Zhou, and Yi Li discuss new polymer ideas SEM of nanoporous polymer particle Highly Functionalized Macromolecules Based on Copolymerization of Substituted Stilbene Monomers S. Richard Turner, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, DMR