Collaborative Research: Fundamental Basis for General Molecular Weight Determination for Ionic Polymers

合作研究：离子聚合物通用分子量测定的基础

• 批准号: 1904852
• 负责人: Ralph Colby
• 金额: $ 18万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-15 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1904852&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Fundamental; Basis; General

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program with partial co-funding from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry is funding Dr. Ralph H. Colby from Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Louis A. Madsen from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The team is developing new methods for measuring the molecular weight of polymers that have attached ions. Polymers are long-chain molecules consisting of many repeating units that are linked together through carbon-carbon bonds. While there are many firmly established techniques used to accurately determine the molecular weight of nonionic (uncharged) polymers, applying such methods to ionic polymers is usually difficult. Ionic polymers are a very important class of polymers used by industry as thickeners in water-based paints and coatings and in water purification technologies. A large fraction of biological molecules, including DNA, RNA, many polypeptides and polysaccharides are also examples of important ionic polymers. This project develops a novel set of robust techniques that determine molecular weights for both natural and synthetic ionic polymers. Development of these new methodologies benefits society by accelerating the development of ion-conducting energy materials and biodegradable materials. Such research activities train students in macromolecular sciences for future employment in polymer (plastics) industries. The development of both materials and workforce are central to keeping US industries globally competitive.This research is focused on developing four methods that utilize easily measured dynamic properties of semidilute unentangled solutions of ionic polymers to obtain the number-average molecular weight. Each method relies on specific combinations of calibrated measurements so that each one directly determines the number density of chains in solution and thus the number-average molecular weight of the polymers in that solution. These four methods each have the advantage that they are insensitive to salt concentration (since salt can be challenging or even impossible to remove) and have the transformative potential to enable routine molecular weight determinations for ionic polymers, while using very little sample. Quick adoption of these methods is anticipated, allowing rapid growth of the development of polyelectrolytes and ionomers to suit a myriad of applications. Development and validation of the theory and experimental methods in this project further impact the physical underpinnings of polymer science and enable new understanding of ionic polymer properties. While mainly being tested and developed using synthetic polymers, this research also promises to enable routine characterization of molecular weight for biopolymers such as hyaluronic acid, heparin, DNA and RNA.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

通过该奖项，化学分校的大分子，超分子和纳米化学计划与化学测量和成像计划获得了部分共同资助，这是为宾夕法尼亚州立大学的Ralph H. Colby博士提供资金研究所和州立大学。 该团队正在开发新方法，用于测量连接离子的聚合物的分子量。 聚合物是长链分子，由许多重复单元组成，这些单元通过碳碳键将其连接在一起。 尽管有许多牢固建立的技术用于准确确定非离子（未加成）聚合物的分子量，但是将这种方法应用于离子聚合物通常很困难。 离子聚合物是行业用作水基油漆和涂料以及水净化技术中的增稠剂的非常重要的聚合物类别。 大部分的生物分子，包括DNA，RNA，许多多肽和多糖也是重要的离子聚合物的例子。 该项目开发了一组新型的鲁棒技术，这些技术决定了天然和合成离子聚合物的分子量。 这些新方法的开发通过加速离子传统能源材料和可生物降解材料的发展来使社会受益。 此类研究活动培训了大分子科学的学生，从而在聚合物（塑料）行业的未来就业。 材料和劳动力的发展对于保持美国行业具有全球竞争性至关重要。这项研究的重点是开发四种方法，这些方法利用了易于测量的离子聚合物半硅未进入溶液的动态性能，以获得数量平均分子量。 每种方法都依赖于校准测量的特定组合，因此每种方法都直接确定溶液中链的数量密度，从而直接确定该溶液中聚合物的数量平均分子量。 这四种方法的优势是它们对盐浓度不敏感（因为盐可能具有挑战性，甚至无法去除），并且具有变革性的潜力，可以在使用很少的样品时实现离子聚合物的常规分子重量测定。 预计将快速采用这些方法，从而可以快速增长聚电解质和离子体的发展，从而适应无数的应用。 该项目中的理论和实验方法的发展和验证进一步影响了聚合物科学的物理基础，并使对离子聚合物特性的新了解。 虽然主要使用合成聚合物进行测试和开发，但这项研究还有望常规地表征分子量的生物聚合物，例如透明质酸，肝素，DNA和RNA。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估值得进行评估，并被认为是值得的。基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。