Professor Frank A. Leibfarth

Professor Frank A. Leibfarth
Department of Chemistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract

Modern Approaches to Functional and Sustainable Thermoplastics

Plastics are the largest synthetic consumer product in the world, with an annual production of over 360 million metric tons annually. Despite the structural diversity enabled by modern advances in polymer synthesis, greater than 60% of world plastic production remains dominated by polyolefins. These high-volume, low- cost engineering thermoplastics are made from a small sub- set of petroleum derived monomers and demonstrate diverse thermomechanical properties, attractive chemical resistance, and excellent processability. Creating sustainable materials that compete with the performance and value proposition of polyolefins is a grand challenge for the field of polymer science. The goal of research in the Leibfarth group is to develop synthetic methods that transform readily available starting materials into functional and sustainable thermoplastics with molecular-level precision. This goal informs our two complementary approaches that seek to 1) leverage chemo- and regioselective C–H functionalization of polyolefins to enhance the properties of these venerable materials and 2) develop stereoselective polymerization methods that engender emergent polymer properties from simple chemical building blocks. These concepts have resulted in platform synthetic methods that enhance the thermomechanical, adhesion, and transport properties of polyolefins while also uncovering mechanistic insights that broadly inform synthetic method development.

Frank A. Leibfarth

Professor Frank Leibfarth attended the University of South Dakota, where he was a Goldwater Scholar and graduated in 2008 with degrees in Chemistry and Physics. He received his PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara under the direction of Professor Craig J. Hawker in 2013 and completed a postdoc fellowship at MIT under the direction of Professor Timothy F. Jamison. He began his independent career in 2016 at the University of North Carolina, where he is an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department. His research focuses on the synthesis of materials for contemporary challenges in sustainability, including plastics recycling and water purification. The work of Professor Leibfarth’s group has been recognized by the Beckman Young Investigator award, the Popular Science Brilliant Ten recognition, and the Sloan Research Fellowship, among others. At UNC, Prof. Leibfarth has been recognized by the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and as the Winter 2021 commencement speaker.

Hosted by Professor Marc Hillmyer