Seminar Abstract:
Previously, we reported that the addition of catalytic quantities of cobalt(II) complexes to standard methacrylate-based formulations were found to reduce the crosslinking density, glass transition temperature, modulus and stiffness of the resultant photopolymeric materials proportional to catalyst loading. We have dubbed this technique catalytic chain transfer photopolymerization (CCTP2). Expansion of this technology, however, has been met with significant performance issues. These roadblocks prompted us to develop a working mechanistic model for CCTP2 using a combined experimental and computational approach, which will be presented. Findings from these efforts informed the use of co-catalysts, additives and photoprocessing techniques that yield consistent performance, increased functional group conversion and rate; ultimately enabling expansion of CCTP2 into stereolithographic additive manufacturing. Understanding the good, the bad, and the ugly, mechanistically speaking, has opened new, unexplored avenues for the scalable preparation of crosslinked photopolymeric materials with unique mechanical and material properties.
Speaker Bio:
Following my PhD in synthetic organic/inorganic chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (San Diego, CA) in Prof. Valery Fokin’s lab (of CuAAC fame), I was really bored. I decided to try something scientifically new and went to the University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, CO) to study material science and polymer chemistry in Prof. Chris Bowman’s lab (of thiol-ene fame). I was less bored. I continued these lines of research (synthetic organic/inorganic, polymer and material chemistry) in my independent career at the University of Denver. Current status: not bored at all. I love learning new things, doing new things, being proven wrong and feeling dumb. I have found that being a professor is a great career for this. Outside of lab, I try and spend as much time as I can outside in beautiful Colorado with my wife, dog and two young daughters (3 and 7), all of whom keep me painfully busy.
