Polymer Construction and Deconstruction Enabled by Olefin Metathesis

Hao Sun

Department of Chemistry and Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, University of New Haven

The development of degradable and chemically-recyclable polymers is driving a more sustainable and eco-friendly future for our society and environment. In recent years, significant progress in designing these sustainable polymers has been fueled by various polymerization techniques, including free radical polymerization and ring-opening polymerization. In this talk, I will delve into our group's recent work in creating degradable and depolymerizable polyolefins using ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). We have recently developed a class of acid-degradable alternating copolymers by incorporating biomass-derived oxanorbornene and cyclic enol ether monomers. These copolymers offer highly tunable thermal properties, making them versatile for a variety of applications. Additionally, I will showcase a novel chemically recyclable polymer based on cycloheptene, a seven-membered cyclic olefin monomer with a low strain energy. The low strain of cycloheptene allows for both polymerization and depolymerization under varying conditions.

Very look forward to the Florida Award Symposium for Brent!