Professor Jessica Lamb

Professor Jessica Lamb
Department of Chemistry
University of Minnesota
Host: Poly/PMSE Student Chapter

Zoom
Meeting ID: 915 3936 5139
Passcode: 1WSG1Y

Abstract

Studying Mechanism and Methodology of Controlled Polymerizations

Understanding the mechanisms of polymerizations is vital to designing robust techniques towards polymers with targeted characteristics. In this talk, I will discuss two projects where we performed mechanistic experiments to more fully understand two very different polymerization systems. In the first, 13C-labeled α-olefin monomers were used to monitor both insertion and "chain-walking" of nickel α-diimine catalysts under different conditions. We then interpreted the 13C NMR spectra using a mathematical model to differentiate between eight unique insertion pathways to better correlate ligand structure with polymer branching architecture. In the second project, we explored additive-free, photocontrolled radical polymerizations of acrylates and acrylamides in completely open vials. Going against conventional wisdom, we discovered that polymers with decent molecular weight and narrow dispersities could be obtained without a photocatalyst in 1 hour, enabled by high light intensity, large reaction volume, no stirring, and DMSO as the solvent.

Professor Lamb

Professor Lamb received her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of North Dakota before going on to get her master's and doctorate in chemistry at Cornell University as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. There, she primarily worked in small molecule catalysis but also contributed to some polymer methodology and mechanism projects. She expanded her experience in polymers and materials chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in the summer of 2020, where she hopes to build a group that studies new ways to make polymers through catalysis, physical organic chemistry, and mechanistic studies.