BIO

Third-year Biomedical Engineering student looking to study neuro-engineering to improve brain-machine interfaces. Currently working to develop and characterize a polymer that has been bioinspired by proteoglycan.

Synthesis & Properties of Bottlebrush Polymers

Abstract

The molecular architecture of the bottlebrush (BB) polymers is inspired by that of proteoglycans, naturally occurring proteins in articular cartilage. Synthetic BBs have developed rapidly over last few decades, but the structure-property correlations are still not well understood. This project aims to create libraries of synthetic bottlebrush polymers to shed light onto their material and solution properties. Polynorbornene (PNB) has been widely used as the backbone of most synthetic bottlebrushes, however the cyclopentane tether sustained after ring-opening metathesis (ROMP) reduces rigidity and steric hinderance. Polypentenamer (PCP) macroinitiators show promise as an alternative synthetic route to BB with the same grafting density as PNB. A library of PNB and PCP based BBs will be synthesized with a varying of backbone and sidechain lengths to study what role the rigidity of the backbone plays in BB properties.

Keywords: Bottlebrush Polymer, ROMP, Bioinspired Material