(4em) Precision Bottlebrush Polymers: Synthesis, Characterization, and Potential for Advanced Applications

I received my B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where I studied the simultaneous adsorption of lead and copper ions using bio-adsorbents for water treatment. I am concluding my Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University with Dr. Jimmy Lawrence, focusing on the synthesis, characterization, and structure-property relationships of precision bottlebrush polymers.

Research Interests

My research interests span various areas, particularly bioengineering and membrane science, with synthetic polymer chemistry as the central theme. Throughout my Ph.D., I have gained fundamental insights into how the structural precision of bottlebrush polymers influences their behavior and functions. I revealed kinetic details concerning the synthesis of precision bottlebrush polymers, highlighting the profound impact of macromonomer/building block dispersity in controlling brush structure and topology. I demonstrated that when the sidechains of bottlebrush polymers are uniform, the brushes pack more densely at an interface, with a clear transition informing brush-brush interactions at key phase regimes. I also reported the synthesis of a fully discrete functional bottlebrush polymer (Ð = 1.0). Importantly, our precise structure significantly bridges the gap between real-world materials and theoretical models.

Building on my current research experience in synthesizing and characterizing precision bottlebrush polymers, my interest is to explore the fundamental behavior of polymers directed by their structural features and leverage these behaviors for specific applications. These include:

1) Healthcare Solutions: I have a passion for creating solutions to healthcare challenges using polymeric systems, I am open to research ranging from biomedical devices to drug delivery systems and MRI applications.

2) Polymeric Membranes: polymeric membranes are versatile material platforms applicable in various fields such as wastewater treatment, gas separation, tissue engineering, drug delivery, fuel cells etc, due to their tunable properties. I am interested in understanding the influence of side-chain dispersity in the microphase separation of bottlebrush copolymers. Additionally, I am also interested in investigating how microdomains and channels can be controlled not just in two dimensions but also across film thickness through sidechain engineering.

3) Bottlebrush copolymers generally have significant stability relative to linear analogs due to an extended backbone that keeps blocks segregated. I am particularly interested in leveraging our findings on T_g being strongly dependent on N_SC for a homo bottlebrush polymer^[1] to investigate T_g-influenced microphase separation of an A_SBA_L hetero multiblock bottlebrush polymer with uniform side chains. (A_S - block A with a short side chain, B - block B, A_L - block A with a long side chain).

^[1] Dearman, M.; Ogbonna, N. D.; Amofa, C. A.; Peters, A. J.; Lawrence, J. Versatile strategies to tailor the glass transition temperatures of bottlebrush polymers. Polym. Chem. 2022, 13, 4901–4907.