Photocontrolled Polymerizations in Flow: Next Generation Material Synthesis

About the Speaker
Dr. Thomas Junkers graduated in 2006 from Gottingen University with a PhD in physical chemistry with a thesis on radical polymerization kinetics studies via pulsed laser methods. Subsequently, he joined the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design at UNSW (Sydney). In 2008 he followed Christopher Barner-Kowollik to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and early in 2010 he was appointed at Hasselt University (Belgium) where he founded the Polymer Reaction Design Group (www.polymatter.net) in the Institute for Materials Research (www.imo.uhasselt.be). Research activities focus on the design of facile polymer reaction pathways, microreactor synthesis, photopolymerization, control methodologies for unconventional radical-polymerization systems, efficient polymer conjugation reactions, state-of-the-art polymer characterization and kinetic modeling.Abstract
One of the greatest challenges in polymer synthesis is nowadays the facile upscaling of controlled polymerization protocols in order to provide added-value precision polymers in significant quantities. Photo-induced flow processes play an important role due their efficient initiation combined with their overall simplicity in practical use. The use of various UV sources in the copper-redox initiated controlled polymerization of (meth)acrylates will be highlighted and the efficiency of these reactions discussed with respect to the overall quality of materials that can be obtained in this pathway, ranging from multiblock copolymers to star-shaped polymeric drug carriers.