Studies synthesis of polymeric materials, emphasizing interrelationships of chemical pathways, process conditions, and microarchitecture of molecules produced. Chemical pathways include traditional approaches such as anionic polymerization, radical condensation, and ring-opening polymerizations. Other techniques are discussed, including stable free radical polymerizations and atom transfer free radical polymerizations (ARTP), catalytic approaches to well-defined architectures, and polymer functionalization in bulk and at surfaces. Process conditions include bulk, solution, emulsion, suspension, gas phase, and batch vs. continuous fluidized bed. Microarchitecture includes tacticity, molecular-weight distribution, sequence distributions in copolymers, errors in chains such as branches, head-to-head addition, and peroxide incorporation.

Acknowledgements

The instructor would like to thank Karen Shu and Karen Daniel for their work in preparing material for this course site.