Polymer Chemistry Blog

We are delighted to announce Professor Miao Hong (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) as the recipient of the 2023 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its ninth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

‘What impressed me most about Polymer Chemistry is that the manuscripts are being professionally handled with high efficiency.’

Miao Hong received her Ph.D. degree in 2013 under the supervision of Professor Yuesheng Li from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After a four-year postdoctoral stint at Colorado State University with Professor Eugene Y.-X. Chen, she joined Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017 as a Full Professor of Chemistry. Research in the Hong group is centred on polymer science, catalytic chemistry, green and sustainable chemistry, and with one of the main interests being the development of novel catalysts and new methodologies for the production of sustainable polymers with controlled structures from renewable feedstocks.

To learn more about Professor Hong’s research, have a look at her most recent publication in Polymer Chemistry ‘Insights into the interaction between bis(aryloxide)alkylaluminium and N-heterocyclic carbene: from an abnormal Lewis adduct to a frustrated Lewis pair for efficient polymerizations of biomass-derived acrylic monomers‘

This is free to access until 30th September 2023, and featured in our most recent Pioneering Investigators collection. You can also check out articles from our previous lectureship winners in our lectureship winners collection.

Read our interview with Professor Hong below:

How has your research evolved from your first article to you most recent article?

The research in my group is centered on the development of novel catalysts and new methodologies for the production of sustainable polymers with controlled structures from renewable feedstocks. One of major challenges encountered in this area is the conventional catalytic systems, which can effectively polymerize petrochemical monomers, are generally inert/sluggish or uncontrolled toward the polymerization of biomass-derived monomers due to their unique heteroatom-rich structure natures. Take β-angelica lactone as an example, a key downstream chemical of levulinic acid which is available in a total yield of more than 80% from cellulose and classified as one of top biomass-derived compounds best suited to replace petroleum-derived chemicals. However, its polymerization is inaccessible by traditional polymerization methods, such as group transfer, coordination-addition, and radical polymerizations.

The first “real” article in my group, accomplished by my first Ph.D. student, is the achievement of the first polymerization of β-angelica lactone through developing a new cooperative Lewis pair catalyst. Accordingly, a heat- and solvent-resistant acrylic bioplastic is effectively synthesized. This work was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2020, 59, 2664) and designed as a Hot Paper. On the basis of this work, we further optimized the catalyst structure and established a new and stable Frustrated Lewis pair in our very recently work (Polym. Chem. 2023, 14, 3286 – 3293), which is not only efficient for β-angelica lactone polymerization, but also can mediate fast and controlled polymerizations of methyl crotonate and (E,E)-methyl sorbate, thus establishing a general catalyst for the polymerizations of inert biomass-derived acrylic monomers. Overall, the striking findings from our group and the other groups (e.g. Chen, Zhang, Takasu) shed light on the great potential of cooperative Lewis pair catalysts for efficient polymerizations of challenging biomass-derived monomers.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

The most exciting moment of my research career so far should be the successful chemical synthesis of high-molecular-weight biomaterial poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) for the first time via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of γ-butyrolactone (Nat. Chem. 2016, 8, 42), a biomass-derived lactone monomer commonly referred as “non-polymerizable” in the textbooks and literatures due to low ring strain energy, when I was a Postdoc in Prof. Eugene Y.-X. Chen’ group at Colorado State University. However, such ROP requires extremely low reaction temperature, which severely hampers the possibly industrial applicability of the resultant polymer.

Recently, my group established a new polymerization strategy, termed isomerization-driven ROP (iROP). Different from conventionally ring strain-driven ROP, such polymerization is thermodynamically driven by S/O isomerization, thus rendering non-strained five-membered rings highly polymerizable for the first time at industrially relevant temperature of 80-100 °C. I am quite excited about iROP, because it is a simple and powerful strategy which not only can circumvent the unfavorable thermodynamics of ROPs of ‘non-stained’ five-membered lactones, and also presents a fascinating opportunity to convert these abundant, but underexploited renewable feedstocks (e.g. γ-butyrolactone, γ-valerolactone, peach lactone, dihydrojasmone lactone, whiskey lactone) into new sustainable polymers with their key physical properties comparing well to representative commodity polyolefin plastics (Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 294; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202217812).

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

One of the most important questions in the field of sustainable polymers should be how to reshape the current petroleum-based polymer industry with sustainable polymers.  That is how to bring the beautiful synthetic schemes and intriguing physical properties of sustainable polymers developed in academia into industrial processes and cost-effective polymeric products. To address this question, cross-disciplinary research (such as polymer chemistry, physics, processing, engineering, and even information technology and artificial intelligence) is highly desirable, and the collaboration between both polymer industry and academic researchers is also essential.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

What impressed me most about Polymer Chemistry is that the manuscripts are being professionally handled with high efficiency. Take our recent research article published by Polymer Chemistry as an example. The manuscript was submitted on 17th May 2023, the peer review of which only took two weeks, and accepted fast on13th June 2023.

In which upcoming conferences or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

The conferences on my schedule are the National Polymer Academic Paper Conference (Oct. 13-17, 2023, Wuhan, China) and IUPAC MACRO 2024 (July 1-4, 2024, Warwick University, United Kingdom).

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

You always can find ideas/answers in the literatures when you face the scientific questions.

How do you spend your spare time?

Try my best to accompany my family in my spare time. I always feel frustrated to balance work and life.

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2023 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Hong on winning this award!

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the polymer chemistry field?

Polymer Chemistry is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2023 Lectureship award and will close on 28 February 2023. This annual award was established in 2015 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the polymer field.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Be an independent researcher, PhD students postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
• Be actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
• Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to polymers-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

• The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
• An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1 – 3 A4 page maximum length)
• A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length)
• A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s postdoc, PhD supervisor or academic mentor for instance
• The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

• Self-nomination is not permitted
• The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship
• Previous winners and current Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board members are not eligible
• As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

Selection

• All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
• The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
  • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
  • Quality of publications, patents or software
  • Innovation
  • Professional standing
  • Independence
  • Collaborations and teamwork
  • Evidence of promising potential
  • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
• In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

Previous winners

2021 – Dominik Konkolewicz, Miami University, USA

2021 – Brett Fors, Cornell University, USA

2020 – Rachel O’Reilly, University of Birmingham, UK

2019 – Frederik Wurm, University of Twente, The Netherlands

2018 – Cyrille Boyer, University of New South Wales, Australia

2017 – Julien Nicolas, Université Paris Sud, France

2016 – Feihe Huang, Zhejiang University, China

2015 – Richard Hoogenboom, Ghent University, Belgium

Nominations deadline: 28 February 2023

We are delighted to announce Dominik Konkolewicz (Miami University) as the recipient of the 2022 Polymer Chemistry lectureship.

This award, now in its eighth year, honours an early-career researcher who has made significant contribution to the polymer field. The recipient is selected by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community.

‘I think the fantastic thing about Polymer Chemistry is that the journal has a clear focus on the development and evaluation of polymers, while still covering a wide range of topics ranging from fundamental kinetic analysis and mechanistic work through to 3D printing and bio-applications of polymers.’

Dominik Konkolewicz earned a Bachelors of Science degree at the University of Sydney (Australia) in 2006, majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics. He continued at the University of Sydney to complete his PhD (2011) working with Dr. Sébastien Perrier on polymerization kinetics and branched polymer synthesis. He went on to complete postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA), working with Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski on mechanisms of complex reactions and applications of precisely defined polymers. In 2014, Dominik joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Miami University in Oxford OH (USA) as an Assistant Professor, with promotion to Associate Professor in 2019. He will start as full professor in Fall 2022. The Konkolewicz group explores a wide range of topics in Polymer Chemistry, including radical polymerization mechanisms, dynamically bonded polymer materials, light driven reactions, bioconjugates, and polymer based self-assembly. Dominik has published over 130 research articles in polymer chemistry and polymer science, with a particular focus on developing fundamental science to facilitate the design of functional materials. Dominik can be found on Twitter @PolyKonkol and the Konkolewicz group can be found on Twitter @konkolgroup.

Check out Dominik’s recent publication in Polymer Chemistry, ‘A general model for the ideal chain length distributions of polymers made with reversible deactivation’.

This is free to read until 21st July 2022, along with his other publications in our lectureship winners collection. You can find articles from all our previous lectureship winners in the collection too.

Read our interview with Dominik below:

How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

My first article in Polymer Chemistry, published as a PhD student, focused on modelling complex polymers. Since then, our group has maintained its core of developing fundamental mechanistic chemistry, while expanding into a wide range of topics such as responsive polymers and biomaterials.

What excites you most about your area of research and what has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?

Things that excite me at the moment is the development of basic polymer science that can be connected to ongoing challenges in our fields. Thinking how we use basic science to contribute towards solutions in sustainability and efficiency is really an important area. The most exciting moments in my career are the growth of my students and trainees. Seeing early career scientists and students move towards their long-term career goals and their ability to contribute to ongoing problems is very rewarding.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in your field of research?

Current and important questions in the field include: how can basic concepts in mechanistic polymer science be translated to next generation materials; and how can we effectively discuss science with the community broadly. We need a balance of fundamental science, but also applying what we know already to current challenges.

How do you feel about Polymer Chemistry as a place to publish research on this topic?

I really value Polymer Chemistry as a forum to publish work across the topics of mechanism and kinetics, polymer-based materials synthesis and analysis of structure property relationships across a range of polymer-based materials. I think the fantastic thing about Polymer Chemistry is that the journal has a clear focus on the development and evaluation of polymers, while still covering a wide range of topics ranging from fundamental kinetic analysis and mechanistic work through to 3D printing and bio-applications of polymers.

Which of your Polymer Chemistry publications are you most proud of and why?

Clearly this is a really difficult question, because I am very proud of all our group’s publications in Polymer Chemistry. However, if I had to choose one it would be B. Zhang, Z. A. Digby, J. A. Flum, E. M. Foster, J. L. Sparks, D. Konkolewicz, ‘Self-Healing, Malleable and Creep Limiting Materials using both Supramolecular and Reversible Covalent Linkages’, Polymer Chemistry 2015, 6, 7368-7372, DOI: 10.1039/C5PY01214G. This is our first publication on dynamically bonded materials and mechanical testing. I am exceptionally proud of how our team members gained new skills in dynamic chemistry and materials characterization in such a short time, and used these skills to combine two dynamic chemistries to give responsive and stable materials.

In which upcoming conferences or events (online or in person) may our readers meet you?

COVID-19 has really negatively impacted our ability to plan for future travel, but I am planning to attend the Fall 2022 ACS meeting in person, as well as a couple of meetings in 2023 such as the 2023 Polymers Gordon Research Conference.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with early career scientists?

The advice I would share is don’t be shy about reaching out to trusted individuals (such as colleagues or former advisors) for feedback. Since everyone brings something unique and valuable to the chemistry community, believe in your skills and the importance of your contributions.

How do you spend your spare time?

In my time away from the lab, I enjoy spending time with my family and our cats, cooking and baking new recipes, and running or cycling outdoors.

We would like to thank everybody who nominated a candidate for the 2022 Polymer Chemistry Lectureship. The Editorial Board had a very difficult task in choosing a winner from the many excellent and worthy candidates.

Please join us in congratulating Dominik on winning this award!