A5011355970- biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis
- Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization
- Polymer crystallization and properties
- Machine Learning in Materials Science
- Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical Applications
- Synthetic Organic Chemistry Methods
- Chemical Synthesis and Analysis
- Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Membrane Separation and Gas Transport
- Design Education and Practice
- Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare
- Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies
Colorado State University
2023-2025
Texas A&M University
2022
St Vincent's Hospital
2019
Stereo-defects present in stereo-regular polymers often diminish thermal and mechanical properties, hence suppressing or eliminating them is a major aspirational goal for achieving with optimal enhanced properties. Here, we accomplish the opposite by introducing controlled stereo-defects to semicrystalline biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB), which offers an attractive alternative isotactic polypropylene but brittle opaque. We enhance specific properties performance of P3HB...
Abstract Geminal ( gem −) disubstitution in heterocyclic monomers is an effective strategy to enhance polymer chemical recyclability by lowering their ceiling temperatures. However, the effects of specific substitution patterns on monomer's reactivity and resulting polymer's properties are largely unexplored. Here we show that, systematically installing ‐dimethyl groups onto ϵ‐caprolactam (monomer nylon 6) from α ϵ positions, both redesigned lactam ‐nylon 6’s highly sensitive position, with...
Commercial adhesives are petroleum-based thermoset networks or nonbiodegradable thermoplastic hot melts, making them ideal targets for replacement by biodegradable alternatives. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB) is a biorenewable and alternative to conventional plastics, but microbial P3HB, which has stereoperfect stereomicrostructure, exhibits no adhesion. In this study, elucidating the fundamental relationship between chemocatalytically engineered P3HB stereomicrostructures adhesion...
Biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) homopolymers and statistical copolymers are ubiquitous in microbially produced PHAs, but the step-growth polycondensation mechanism biosynthesis operates on presents a challenge to access well-defined block (BCPs), especially higher-order tri-BCP PHAs. Here we report stereoselective-chemocatalytic route produce discrete hard-soft-hard ABA all-PHA tri-BCPs based living chain-growth ring-opening polymerization of racemic (rac) 8-membered diolides...
Chemocatalytic routes to poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB), a natural biodegradable polyester that has long been considered as sustainable alternative non-(bio)degradable polyolefins, can deliver P3HB materials with catalyst-controlled diverse stereomicrostructures for...
Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB), a biologically produced, biodegradable natural polyester, exhibits excellent thermal and barrier properties but suffers from mechanical brittleness, largely limiting its applications. Here we report mono-material product design strategy to toughen stereoperfect, brittle bio or synthetic P3HB by blending it with stereomicrostructurally engineered P3HB. Through tacticity ([mm] 0 100 %) molecular weight (Mn 788 kDa) tuning, high-performance materials tensile...
Abstract Geminal ( gem −) disubstitution in heterocyclic monomers is an effective strategy to enhance polymer chemical recyclability by lowering their ceiling temperatures. However, the effects of specific substitution patterns on monomer's reactivity and resulting polymer's properties are largely unexplored. Here we show that, systematically installing ‐dimethyl groups onto ϵ‐caprolactam (monomer nylon 6) from α ϵ positions, both redesigned lactam ‐nylon 6’s highly sensitive position, with...
Polymer solubility has applications in many important and diverse fields, including microprocessor fabrication, environmental conservation, paint formulation, drug delivery, but it remains under-explored compared to its relative importance. This...
Synthetic poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate)s are empowered by catalyst-controlled stereomicrostructures, monomer-designed melt-processability and chemical recyclability, pendant-group-regulated functionalities.
Abstract Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB), a biologically produced, biodegradable natural polyester, exhibits excellent thermal and barrier properties but suffers from mechanical brittleness, largely limiting its applications. Here we report mono‐material product design strategy to toughen stereoperfect, brittle bio or synthetic P3HB by blending it with stereomicrostructurally engineered P3HB. Through tacticity ([ mm ] 0 100 %) molecular weight ( M n 788 kDa) tuning, high‐performance materials...
While hydrocarbon solvents such as alkanes are ineffective in extraction of polar substances phenols from water, polymeric poly(α-olefin)s (PAOs) when modified with phase-anchored hydrogen bond-accepting polyisobutylene (PIB) additives can be designed so that these solvent systems efficiently extract many water. Phenols bisphenol-A (BPA), 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2-naphthol, and alkyl- or aryl-substituted sequestered water >95% efficiency. For example, using a PIB oligomer...