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SUMMARY:Light as a Tool for Polymer Synthesis
LOCATION:Chemistry, A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20220225T160000
UID:2026-04-29-01-37-02@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260429T013702
Description:Seminar abstract: This seminar will explore fundamental develo
 pments in polymer synthesis\, including methods for controlling polymer di
 spersity and copolymer sequence. Growing evidence indicates that these par
 ameters\, dispersity and sequence\, profoundly impact polymer material pro
 perties\, such thermal stability and degradation profiles. Yet\, methods f
 or high-resolution control over these parameters are rare\, preventing sys
 tematic correlation of polymer structure with material functions. We have 
 developed new classes of photoswitchable initiators and catalyst systems t
 hat enable dynamic manipulation of dispersity and copolymer sequence\, res
 pectively. This work is the first demonstration of using light to control 
 the dispersity of poly(vinyl ethers) and the sequence of poly(lactides). T
 hese results serve as a foundation for further exploring external control 
 of polymer structure\, and for accessing new polymer structures with tunab
 le properties.\n\nBio: Melanie grew up in San Diego\, California\, and sta
 rted her chemistry research career as an undergraduate at Dartmouth Colleg
 e in the laboratory of Prof. Peter Jacobi and spent a summer research inte
 rnship at The Scripps Research Institute in the laboratory of Barry Sharpl
 ess. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of California\, Berkeley in th
 e research groups of Profs. Bob Bergman and Dean Toste where she worked on
  developing organometallic agents for carbon-pnictogen bond formation. Mel
 anie then sought to learn about how tools of physical organic chemistry ca
 n be used to make contributions to soft materials in postdoctoral research
  at ETH Zurich with Prof. Francois Diederich and at Stanford University wi
 th Prof. Zhenan Bao. Since starting her independent career at Stony Brook 
 University\, Melanie’s research group has focused on developing ways to 
 use light as a tool for polymer synthesis. Her team’s work has been reco
 gnized with an NSF CAREER award in 2019 and an ACS PMSE Young Investigator
  Award in 2021. 4:00 pm
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