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SUMMARY:Boulder Scientific Distinguished Lecture: Using Catalysis to Make a
 nd Recycle Polymers
LOCATION:Chemistry, A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20231019T160000
UID:2026-05-21-19-59-37@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260521T195937
Description:About the Seminar: \n\nPolymers are some of the highest volume
  products of the chemical industry but their manufacturing\, use and dispo
 sal causes pollution.  Production alone is responsible for &gt\; 1 Gt/ann
 um of carbon dioxide emissions\, ~ 3 x more than the annual emissions of t
 he UK.  Recycling options are limited and environmental contamination by 
 legacy plastic fragments has contaminated the planet and pervades the food
  chain.  We urgently need to re-examine the design\, production and dispo
 sal of polymers. There are many approaches to the problem\,  this lecture
  focuses on the potential for some classes of oxygenated polymers\, includ
 ing polycarbonates and polyesters\, to overcome some of the problems posed
  by hydrocarbon polymers.  One challenge of using oxygenated polymers is 
 that both the understanding of their polymerization catalysis\, structure-
 property relationships and recyclability tends to be less well developed.1
   This lecture focusses on trying to gain fundamental understanding of th
 e chemistry of polymerization\, polymers and depolymerizations. A case stu
 dy on polycarbonates will be presented\, including catalysis for carbon di
 oxide/epoxide ring-opening copolymerizations (ROCOP)\, how carbon dioxide 
 can be used to improve properties of ductile plastics\, polymer electrolyt
 es and catalyzed chemical recycling. In the first part\, a series of diffe
 rent heterodinuclear catalysts will be presented\, these catalysts have st
 ructures comprising M(II)M’(II) and M(I)M(III) structures\, with differe
 nt ancillary ligands and where M(II) = Mg(II)\, Zn(II)\, Co(II) and other 
 transition metals\, where M(I) = s-block metals like Na(I)\, K(I) and M(II
 I) = Co(III) or Al(III).2\,3  Polymerization kinetics and DFT calculation
 s are used\, together with catalyst structural investigations\, to support
  various mechanistic hypotheses and the factors controlling metal synergy 
 in some catalysts will be discussed.3\,4  The lecture will next examine h
 ow switchable polymerization catalysis can be applied to improve the prope
 rties of carbon dioxide derived polymers and plastics.5 It will focus on t
 wo case studies: the toughening of plastics and the production of solid st
 ate electrolytes for lithium ion batteries.5\,6  In the final part\, the 
 catalysis of depolymerization will be examined and catalysts allowing recy
 cling to ‘true’ monomers will be discussed.7\,8\n\nReferences\n\n 	Dim
 ent\, W. T.\; Lindeboom\, W.\; Fiorentini\, F.\; Deacy\, A. C.\; Williams\
 , C. K.\,  Chem. Res.2022\, 55 (15)\, 1997.\n 	Deacy\, A. C.\; Moreby\, E.
 \; Phanopoulos\, A.\; Williams\, C. K.\,  Am. Chem. Soc. 2020\, 142 (45)\,
  19150.\n 	Deacy\, A. C.\; Kilpatrick\, A. F. R.\; Regoutz\, A.\; Williams
 \, C. K.\, Nature Chem. 2020\, 12 (4)\, 372.\n 	Deacy\, A. C.\; Phanopoulo
 s\, A.\; Lindeboom\, W.\; Buchard\, A.\; Williams\, C. K.\,  Am. Chem. Soc
 . 2022\, 144 (39)\, 17929.\n 	Sulley\, G. S.\; Gregory\, G. L.\; Chen\, T.
  T. D.\; Carrodeguas\, L. P.\; Trott\, G.\; Santmarti\, A.\; Lee\, K. Y.\;
  Terrill\, N. J.\; Williams\, C. K.\,  Am. Chem. Soc. 2020\, 142 (9)\, 436
 7.\n 	Gregory\, G. L.\; Gao\, H.\; Liu\, B.\; Gao\, X.\; Rees\, G. J.\; Pa
 sta\, M.\; Bruce\, P. G.\; Williams\, C. K.\,  Am. Chem. Soc. 2022\, 144 (
 38)\, 17477.\n 	McGuire\, T. M.\; Deacy\, A. C.\; Buchard\, A.\; Williams\
 , C. K.\,  Am. Chem. Soc. 2022\, 144 (40)\, 18444.\n 	Singer\, F. N.\; Dea
 cy\, A. C.\; McGuire\, T. M.\; Williams\, C. K.\; Buchard\, A.\,  Chem. In
 t. Ed. 2022\, 61\, e202201785.\n\n&nbsp\;\n\nAbout the Speaker: \n\nCharl
 otte Williams is a professor of Inorganic Chemistry and an EPSRC Establish
 ed Career Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University
  of Oxford.  Her research interests lie in polymerization catalysis\, ino
 rganic and polymer chemistry.   She is particularly focussed on carbon d
 ioxide utilization by copolymerization and on the production of bio-derive
 d polyesters\, polycarbonates and block polymers.  She is a Fellow of the
  Royal Society. Her work has been recently recognised by the Leverhulme Me
 dal of the Royal Society (2022)\, The Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Me
 dal (2021)\, an OBE for Services to Chemistry (2020)\, Macro Group UK Meda
 l (2019)\, DeChema Otto Roelen Catalysis Medal (2018)\, The UK Catalysis H
 ub Sir John Meurig Thomas Medal (2017) and the Royal Society of Chemistry 
 Corday Morgan Medal (2016).\n\nHome - Charlotte Williams Research (ox.ac.u
 k) 4:00 pm
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