1. Controlled Polymerization of Renewable Cyclic Esters:
Catalyst Design and Polymerization Mechanisms
With the goal of developing new and innovative methods for the conversion of molecules provided by plants into compounds that can be catalytically transformed into sustainable plastics, we have developed syntheses of new polymeric structures with useful properties from new monomers derived from agricultural products. Examples include (1) polylactide-polymenthide-polylactide ABA triblocks that behave as semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomers and (2) epoxylactones derived from the natural product dihydrocarvone, which when copolymerized with e-caprolactone yield novel shape memory polymers.