Professor Brent Sumerlin
Department of Chemistry
George & Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory
University of Florida
“Photocatalysis to synthesize, derivatize, depolymerize, and degrade polymers”
Relying solely on mild ultraviolet or visible light irradiation of thiocarbonylthio compounds, we have developed a new avenue to polymer-protein conjugates, semi-telechelic polymers, and well-defined ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMW) block polymers. Using either a photocatalyst or relying on the direct activation of photoactive functional groups, we are able to (i) synthesize polymers by photoiniferter polymerization and (ii) install new functionality to these polymers to prepare copolymers of (meth)acrylates and olefins that are inaccessible by direct copolymerization. Extending these approaches to the rapidly growing field of photocatalytic decarboxylation, we were also able to prepare
photodegradable polymers that have all-carbon backbones. Most recently, we have demonstrated that by employing the traditional conditions of photopolymerization at elevated temperatures, we are able to achieve dramatically accelerated depolymerization to regenerate monomer, suggesting low-energy photochemistry can be leveraged to approach life-cycle circularity.
Brent Sumerlin
Brent Sumerlin is the George Bergen Butler Chair in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida. He received his undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University in 1998 and later earned his PhD in Polymer Science & Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi under the guidance of Charles McCormick. After completing his PhD, Sumerlin worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor/Postdoctoral Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University under Krzysztof Matyjaszewski. In 2005, he took a faculty position at Southern Methodist University before moving to the University of Florida in 2012. Sumerlin is an associate editor for ACS Macro Letters and a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, ACS Leadership Development Award, Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award, Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Award, the Hanwha-Total IUPAC Award, and the UF Doctoral Dissertation Mentoring/Advising Award.
331 Smith Hall