Course Name

Contemporary Polymer

Chemistry

Course Number

05122068

Total Hours

32

Credits

2

Semester

1

Course Type

Elective

Instructor

Li Liu

Course Description:

This class, “Contemporary Polymer Chemistry”, describes the physical and organic chemistry of the reactions by which polymer molecules are synthesized. Emphasis is placed throughout the study on understanding the fundamental mechanistic and synthetic features of various polymerizations. As a powerful tool to tailor-make a variety of polymers with specified molecular weights and well-defined structures, living polymerizations are introduced in details in Chap. 1, 2, 4-7. Chapter 3 describes the stereochemistry of polymerization with emphasis on the synthesis of polymers with stereoregular structures by the appropriate choice of initiators and polymerization conditions. Polycondensations are introduced in Chap. 8&9. In the last chapter, there is a discussion of the reactions of polymers that are useful for modifying or synthesizing new polymer structures and the use of polymeric reagents, substrates, and catalysts.