Objectives
This course aims to provide, from a chemistry perspective, a comprehensive overview of polymerization techniques, covering the full range of methods used to access synthetic polymers.
By the end of the course, which is taught exclusively by expert researchers in each of the fields covered, students will be able to identify the appropriate polymerization technique for a given class of monomers. They will also gain an understanding of so-called precision polymerization techniques, which provide access to well-defined macromolecular architectures.
The most common techniques for the structural characterization of macromolecules will also be introduced.
Finally, polymerization in dispersed media, which enables the production of polymers in the form of stable dispersions (latexes), together with the specific characterization techniques and the associated physical chemistry, will be discussed.
Course Content
- Step-growth polymerization and polycondensation
- Chain-growth polymerization: catalysis and polyolefins, free-radical polymerization, controlled/living radical polymerization, anionic polymerization, and cationic polymerization
- Emulsion polymerization
- Self-assembly of block copolymers and colloids
- Characterization of polymers and polymer dispersions
