Polymer Chemistry Blog

Prof. Laurent Billon received his M.S. from the University of Bordeaux (1992) where he worked on anionic ring opening polymerization of cyclosilazanes.  He obtained his PhD on synthesis of functional telechelic polyimides in 1996 at the University of Pau (UPPA). Subsequent to postdoctoral research for Rhodia/Schlumberger on electro-rheological polyzwitterionic fluids (1998) and Arkema USA on acrylic-modified fluoro-polymers by seeded emulsion (1999), he started his career as Associate Professor in 2000 at the UPPA where he earned the position of Full Professor in 2010 and became Deputy Director of the Polymer team. His research interest focuses on the design of well-defined polymer structures, especially block and gradient copolymers, by controlled radical polymerization techniques.  His research activity is also focused on the development of Surface Initiated Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization to design functional hybrid colloidal particles and pigments with industrial partners. A special attention concerns the self-organized nano/micron structures, such as colloidal crystal, inverse opal or honeycomb patterns, for photonic and responsive surfaces.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by the possibility to transform the matter just by an invisible process, the chemistry. A few years after, during my License & Master degrees, I met a wonderful team of teachers in University of Bordeaux I which opened me to a new world: the polymer chemistry.

What was the motivation behind your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/C1PY00357G)

It’s a long story because this study on Carbon NanoTubes CNT was developed with an industrial French partner. Few years ago, we patented and published a work on “in situ” polymerization where we were able to graft through the CNT the block copolymer chains during their growth, spontaneously. At this time, we focused only on this aspect and tried to characterize this phenomenon.

In a second contract, we focused on the polymerization kinetic in presence of raw industrial CNT without any post-modification … and we were surprised to observe a strong impact in terms of initiation and enhancement of the kinetic depending of the CNT amount. This work was first patented and finally even if we have not fully identified the mechanism of polymerization, it has been published in Polymer Chemistry. It’s a really an unexpected behavior because the initiation and growth of the chains occur in a controlled manner without any initiator and can also be better controlled by the adding of nitroxide.

This study represents a collaborative project between academic and industrial partners which can be strongly valorized by publication in Polymer Chemistry.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is an exciting new journal that has become a top journal in the polymer scientific community. It contains innovative and inspiring research related to all aspects of polymer chemistry, only.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the CSM8 (May 28-31 in Beyrouth, Lebanon), EUPOC 2012 (June 3-7 in Gargnano, Italy) and Warwick 2012 (July 9-12 in Warwick, UK).

How do you spend your spare times?

I run two times a week (sometimes with my daughters) and when I have time, swim and bike. So, if I’m around Pau, in September I participate in a short triathlon or July in the swimming race, crossing the bay of Saint Jean de Luz … just for fun. But I don’t know the reason why, it’s more and more difficult … maybe the global warming!!!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I love breads, wines and cheeses, and also jazz and French rock music. To combine all these passions, I think I would have liked to keep a bar where you could taste organic products and enjoy jam sessions in a friendly atmosphere, curl up in sofas.

Prof. Mitsuru Ueda received his PhD degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1978. He joined Yamagata University in 1972 and was promoted to professor in 1989. He moved to the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1999. He worked at the University of Alabama as a postdoctoral researcher from 1978 to 1979 and at IBM Almaden Research Center as a visiting researcher from 1985 to 1986. He has published more that 570 peer reviewed research papers. His current research interests are the development of new synthetic methods for condensation polymers, high refractive index polymers, polymer memory, polymer solar cells, fuel cell membranes, photosensitive materials for microelectronics, and new advanced resist materials.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

When I was a high school student, I was interested in chemistry through chemical experiments and felt that chemistry produces sometimes fantastic materials. My chemistry teacher at high school also recommended me to enter a department of applied chemistry at the university. I was very lucky to meet several excellent professors who introduced me a scientific fan of polymer chemistry and also the promise of polymers as future materials.

What was the motivation to write this article? DOI:10.1039/C2PY20093G

I have engaged in development of thermally stable and photosensitive polymers, specially, photosensitive polyimides (PSPIs) for last twenty years. However, no one knows the morphology of poly(amic acid) (PAA) films for PSPIs and few studies on the formation of spherical nanoparticles have been reported up to now. Most researchers including me believed that PAA films were homogeneous. During the course of the investigation, my student found spherical nanoparticles were formed during preparation of the PAA films for PSPIs. Being interested in taking SEM, he took the SEM of a spin-cast film of PAAs. Thus, these findings prompted us to investigate the spherical particle formation of PAAs during the film preparation. This observation is very important for developing photosensitive polyimides, providing deeper insight for a development process using organic solvents or aqueous base solutions.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is an excellent journal which publishes high quality manuscripts in polymer science. Moreover, Dr. Liz Davis as the Managing Editor invited me to submit our article to this journal.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I am going to attend the 7^th International Symposium on Hi-tec Polymer Materilas held at in Xi’an City, China during June 17-21, the 29^th International Conference Photopolymer Science and Technology held at Chiba, Japan during June 26-29, the 1^st International Symposium on Polymer Ecomaterials held at Changchun, China during August 19 – 23, and Polycondensation 2012 held at San Francisco, USA during September 16-19.

How do you spend your spare times?

I take a walk and listen to music.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

When I was young, I loved sailing and had enjoyed it until 45 years old. Thus if possible, I would be a professional sailing boat sailor.

Christophe Schatz is Assistant Professor at the ‘Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux’ in the ‘Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO)’ led by Prof. H. Cramail (see author of the week, 23 March 2012). He received his PhD degree from the University of Lyon in 2003 for his work on polysaccharide colloids under the supervision of Prof. A. Domard and Pr. T. Delair. In 2004–2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. E. J. Wanless (University of Newcastle, Australia) working on polyelectrolyte micelles for functional interfaces. He is currently working in the group of Prof. S. Lecommandoux and his research focuses on colloidal assemblies from polysaccharides, polyelectrolytes and block copolymers for therapeutic applications.

Details of his research activities can be found at: http://www.lcpo.fr/

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

The idea of working in a laboratory of chemistry to manipulate and study molecules has been a great motivation for a long time. Later, I realized how interactions can be used to direct molecular assembly and built materials.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI:10.1039/C2PY20089A)  

The project is the result of a collaboration between the ‘Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux (ICMCB)’ where researchers are able to design magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) having a Curie temperature adjusted at 43°C for biomedical applications and the ‘Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO)’ which has a long experience in the synthesis and properties of block copolymers. The motivation was to engineer the surface of magnetic NPs with copolymers so that an anticancer agent can be encapsulated and released at will by applying an ac magnetic field. This may be beneficial for reducing side effects of chemotherapy. We chose to modify the particle surface though a non-covalent approach, namely by co-adsorbing block copolymers, because many properties of polymer brushes, like the transition temperature or the drug encapsulation capacity, can be easily modified through the composition of adsorbed copolymer chains. In view of designing a functional polymer platform at particle surface, such an approach offers almost unlimited possibilities.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

It looks like that Polymer Chemistry will become a major journal with a broad audience in polymer science.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 9th International Symposium on Polyelectrolytes – ISP 2012 (Lausanne, July 9-12) and then the Colloids and Nanomedicine conference in Amsterdam, July 15-17.

How do you spend your spare times?

Music, cooking and diving (since my post-doc in Australia). Reading newspapers with a cup of coffee takes me some time too!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

Musician or maybe explorer in another life…

John (Jung Kwon) Oh is currently appointed as a Canada Research Chair (CRC) Tier II in Nanobioscience and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. With BSc and MSc from Hanyang University in Korea, he earned his PhD degree from the University of Toronto in the area of polymer chemistry and materials science under the supervision of Prof. Mitchell A. Winnik. He then completed his postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University with Prof. Kris Matyjaszewski, learning atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). He has been employed at Korea Chemical Company in Korea and Dow Chemical Company in Michigan USA over 10 years.

The research in his laboratory at Concordia enables the design and processing of macromolecular nanoscale materials for biological and biomedical applications. The nanomaterials of interest consist of polymeric, organic, and inorganic materials as well as hybrids having unique structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties. They are prepared by well-defined synthetic organic methods, controlled polymer chemistry as well as by templating with supramolecular assemblies. In particular, his interests are the integration of nanostructured biomaterials with biomedicine to develop advanced bionanomaterials that can interface biological processes as well as to understand their biological functions. The current focus of his research is on the development of a variety of novel biomaterials for drug delivery, cellular imaging, and tissue engineering, including superparamagnetic nanogels, rapid thermoresponsive hydrogels, and self-assembled degradable block copolymer micelles

Currently, his group has seven graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The students and postdoc in his laboratory who participate in the cutting-edge research program have the opportunity to gain a broad range of skills and knowledge in organic polymer chemistry, materials chemistry and science, and the domain of biology and biomedical engineering.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

My impression about synthetic chemistry is that a synthetic chemist is similar to a professional cook who can select appropriate and various ingredients to create new tastes. I have trained as polymer chemist and materials scientist in both industrial and academic settings. My strong desire is to integrate my synthetic skill sets with biology and biomedicine, developing new materials for biomedical research.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI:10.1039/c2py20154b)

Toward the effective cancer-targeting drug delivery applications of amphiphilic block copolymers as multifunctional nanocarriers, the control of the release of encapsulated anticancer therapeutics is critical. My research group has focused on the new design of stimuli-responsive degradable self-assembled micelles, with different numbers and types of degradable linkages positioned at various locations. These micelles having topological variations should allow the determination of the structure-property relationship between morphological variance and stimuli-responsive degradation. Ultimately, the advanced knowledge can be leveraged into optimizing degradable micelles offering tunable release of encapsulated anticancer therapeutics inside cancer cells.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I regularly attend the ACS meeting in USA and will attend the 95^th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Calgary in Canada.

How do you spend your spare times?

I walk with my wife and love to play tennis.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I loved and played baseball in my childhood. Because I was born in countryside in the city of Daejeon, Korea, I did not have an great opportunity to be a baseball player in my life. If I am given to a new life, I would be a professional baseball player.