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University of Florida: Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering

2007; Wiley; Volume: 208; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/macp.200600570

1521-3935

Kenneth B. Wagener,

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

The Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering at the University of Florida – the MacroCenter - finds its origin within the research laboratory of Professor George Butler, who began his academic work here more than 60 years ago. George & Josephine Butler arrived in Gainesville in 1946 to begin an academic career after spending several years at Rohm & Haas Company. The fledgling polymer effort evolved into a splendid success story, that being research and eventual commercialization of cyclopolymerization chemistry. Professor Butler became the first faculty member anywhere on campus to bring research funding to the University of Florida, when his efforts garnered a $10,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to study this reaction. Cyclopolymerization – the formation of ring structures during every propagation step – has led to more than 5,000 citations in the literature since then and is used commercially around the world today. The Butler Research Group's early work also spawned the remarkable growth of funded research beyond polymers across campus, where external support at the University of Florida now approaches a half billion dollars a year. It all started with polymer research. George and Josephine are enjoying their retirement in Gainesville today. He turned 90 in 2006. The cyclopolymerization story contradicted conventional thinking about the polymerization of nonconjugated dienes in general, which had been reported in 1934 by Staudinger to lead to crosslinked polymers. In almost all cases this had been true, and so the observation by graduate student Bob Bunch in the Butler group that quaternary diallyl ammonium diene salts led to water soluble polymers was certainly surprising; in fact, the explanation was hardly believed at first. These results, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1949 (JACS, 1949, 71, 3120–3122), led to several years of research to work out details of the polymerization mechanism. The nonconjugated olefins within the monomer indeed “interacted” to form a ring, thereby converting a tetrafunctional monomer into a difunctional one leading to linear polymers. The Butler group grew substantially in size over the years, and so did interest in the concept of cyclopolymerization. Such polymers are used today in potable and wastewater treatment, and in the paper, textile, cosmetics, coal, and glass industries. Other early work at Florida served as a predictor of the interdisciplinary future in store for the emerging polymer effort on campus. For example, in addition to the cyclopolymerization research, Professor Charles Reid in Chemistry was among the first to probe the use of polymer membranes for reverse osmosis purification of salt water to create pure drinking water. His work was published in one of the earliest issues of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science (J. Appl. Poly. Sci, 1959, 2, 264–272), focusing on developing a better understanding of water transport across cellulosic membranes. His students, who were being fundamentally trained as physical chemists, were focusing on an important question: just how does this diffusion actually work? They proposed a speculative, detailed view of this process. It's interesting reading, illustrative of the nature of education at play in the academic macromolecular scene of the day at Florida. The polymer effort grew substantially in the 1960s and 70s, with faculty being added in the College of Engineering to complement the work of chemists. For the past sixty years over thirty corporations and every major funding agency has partnered with faculty and students to study macromolecules. More than 800 undergraduate & graduate students and postdoctoral associates from all over the world have enjoyed their research here. Today the MacroCenter is comprised of sixteen faculty (Figure 1) and more than 100 students and postdoctoral students situated within the fourth largest educational institution in the USA. The purpose and vision of the MacroCenter is clear: to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in our polymer science and engineering program campus-wide, and to serve as a conduit between industry, government, and our students & faculty. The MacroCenter stresses a fundamental approach in research while seeking solutions to practical problems. Several members at the Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering. How We Are Organized Today. Important to note is the organizational structure of Florida's MacroCenter. We are a “virtual center”; one that is fully integrated with academic departments on campus. As such, graduate students receive the benefits derived from a fundamental educational approach to his or her discipline. We continue to stress the need for a student to become fully competent in a basic field of science or engineering, including an emphasis on polymer structure and behavior. For example, a MacroCenter graduate student interested in the chemical aspects of macromolecules usually enrolls in the Department of Chemistry. The prospective student must meet the entrance and qualification requirements set for any Chemistry graduate student, polymers or otherwise. The graduate student receives the majority of his or her exposure to the science of polymers in the research laboratory, where exposure is oriented towards the chemical aspects of macromolecules with a focus on mechanism, synthesis, structure proof, and structure/behavior relationships. A study of behavior leads to productive interactions with engineering faculty on campus. The end result of being exposed to this environment is the production of a MS or PhD chemist well versed in the fundamentals of chemistry, one who also has a strong knowledge of polymer science. This macromolecular program operates in the same manner within the other departments represented by MacroCenter faculty members (Department of Physics, Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Materials Science & Engineering). Each student receives his or her department's degree. The stress is on basics, followed by courses relevant to polymer science or engineering, and eventual interdisciplinary activity between departments. This MacroCenter's approach to graduate education has led to a reputation of producing competent polymer scientists and engineers who are well founded in the fundamentals of his or her discipline, who interact in an interdisciplinary manner across “traditional” boundaries, and who are aware of the importance of teamwork among people possessing a variety of educational backgrounds. Enhancing The MacroCenter Research Environment: The Butler Lectureship Series. George & Josephine Butler have long recognized the cultural and scientific importance of broad-based collaboration, and eight years ago they generously chose to fund an interactive program to bring the most highly regarded scientists in our field to Gainesville. Thus the Butler Lectureship Series in Polymer Chemistry and Engineering was established in 1998 within the MacroCenter environment. Speakers are invited to spend one month or longer on our campus, presenting a series of 10 or more lectures in addition to interacting on a daily basis with graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Professor Gerhard Wegner from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany initiated the lectureship series for us, followed by Professor Jean Frechet (Berkeley), Professor David Tirrell (Caltech), Professor Ned Thomas (MIT), and most recently Professor Klaus Mullen (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz). The Diverse Nature of Our MacroCenter's Research & Teaching Program. Diversity and collaboration best describe what we do today, merging the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Materials and Biomaterials Science & Engineering to achieve the MacroCenter's goals. Listed below by faculty member and Department are keywords that give an idea of the breadth of research and development work being undertaken on campus right now. Ron Baney (Materials Science & Engineering): Organometallic & metal-organic routes to ceramics and inorganic/organic hybrid materials, chemistry of silsesquioxanes and other silicone materials. Chris Batich (Materials Science & Engineering): Biomaterials, surface properties of polymers, microsphere synthesis, diagnostic devices, scaffolds for regenerative medicine. Charles Beatty (Materials Science & Engineering): Polymeric nanocomposites via reactive extrusion and supercritical carbon dioxide processing, high impact polymers and polymer alloys, electrospinning. Tony Brennan (Materials Science & Engineering): Polymer biomaterials science, designed interfaces, adhesion/bioadhesion, tissue engineering, networks/gels, composites. Ron Castellano (Chemistry): Molecular recognition, self-assembly, organic synthesis, reversible and bio-inspired materials, noncovalent interactions. Elliot Douglas (Materials Science & Engineering): Properties of epoxies for fiber-reinforced composites, liquid crystalline epoxies, supramolecular structure of proteins, active learning techniques, critical thinking in engineering. Randy Duran (Chemistry): “Nontraditional” amphiphilic materials at surfaces and interfaces, measurements of time dependence of surface properties as related to chemical kinetics and reactivity, viscoelasticity and flow, optical properties, nanoparticles for drug detoxification, immobilized ion channels over semiconductor devices. Eric Enholm (Chemistry): Combinatorial Library design for synthesis, cross-metathesis using diverse, biologically important precursors such as carbohydrates, amino acids, pharmaceuticals and metal complexes. Gene Goldberg (Materials Science & Engineering): Biomedical polymers, polymer surface modification, medical implants and devices, implant biocompatibility, ophthalmic biomaterials and devices, vascular stents, regenerative medicine for repair of the central nervous system. Laurie Gower (Materials Science & Engineering): Polymeric crystal growth modifiers, biomimetic organic-inorganic composites, hard tissue engineering, role of biomacromolecules in biomineralization, engineered particulates. Sergie Obukhov (Physics): Long range correlations in polymer melts, anit-casimir effect in polymer melts, structural information as provided by force-extension curves. Chang-Won Park (Chemical Engineering): Polymer rheology and processing, multicomponent flows of polymeric materials, interplay of process modeling and experiment, theoretical basis of fluid mechanical behavior. John Reynolds (Chemistry): Electroactive polymers for electrochromic, light emitting, and photovoltaic devices, flexible organic polymer based solar cells. Kirk Schanze (Chemistry): Organic/organometallic polymer materials, optical applications such as light emitting devices, fluorescent sensors, solar energy conversion, non-linear optical phenomena. David Tanner (Physics): Measurements of optical reflectance or transmittance in polymers at wavelengths from the far infrared through the near ultraviolet regions, high-temperature superconductors, low-dimensional organic crystals. Ken Wagener (Chemistry): Polymer synthesis and mechanisms, biopolymers, structure/property relationships in polyolefins, silicon based elastomers, precision ionomer structures, precision design of complex nanoparticles and nanoblends. The Center for Macromolecular Science & Engineering remains an integral component of our university's research structure. Please visit the MacroCenter website (http://www.cmse.ufl.edu/) to link up with the latest polymer work being done here.