Polymer Chemistry Blog

Dr. Youliang Zhao was born in Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province, China, in September 1975. He received B.Sc. (1997) and M.Sc. (2000) degrees from Xiangtan University and Ph.D. in July 2003 at Institute of Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences with Prof. Fu Xi. He went to Tokyo Institute of Technology in November 2003 and worked as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Akira Hirao. From November 2005 to August 2007, he was a postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Sébastien Perrier at University of Leeds. He became a full professor at College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University since August 2007. He has published more than 50 peer reviewed research papers in scientific journals primarily on synthesis of complex macromolecular architectures, hybrid materials and nanocomposites by polymerization techniques such as controlled radical polymerization (CRP), ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and living anionic polymerization (LAP) and their combination with highly efficient coupling reactions. He has been invited to give lectures on his research work in international conferences as well as in some research institutions. His research interests include synthesis and properties of stimuli-responsive inorganic-organic hybrid materials, graphene-polymer nanocomposites, and functional polymers involving dendrimers, block, star, graft and hyperbranched polymers.

Please follow the link for further information on Zhao’s research group: http://www.polymer.cn/ss/zhaoyouliang/index.html or http://chemistry.suda.edu.cn/index.aspx?lanmuid=69&sublanmuid=603&id=65

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

I become a chemist because of my strong interest in chemistry. Our chemistry teachers in high school always encouraged us to do some interesting chemistry experiments, which fully inspired my curiosity. The undergraduate and graduate studies further underlay my background in polymer science. I am so lucky to become a chemist that I am able to design and synthesize novel compounds and polymers, which may have potential applications in materials science and technology.

What was the motivation to write this article? (DOI:10.1039/C1PY00396H)

The motivation of this article was to develop a versatile method to prepare suprapure multicomponent block copolymers and recycle the functional solid supports. In our previous study, three types of methods comprising Z-supported RAFT graft polymerization, radical-induced chain exchange reaction, and combination of RAFT polymerization and coupling reactions were used to synthesize well-defined homopolymers and block copolymers grafted onto silica particles although the solid substrates were not recycled. In this continuous study, tandem RAFT process and CuAAC afforded better-defined block copolymer grafted silica, de-grafting process and postmodification gave access to highly pure block copolymers with terminal functionalities, and clickable silica particles were efficiently recovered until all the surface functionalities were vanished. Our study affords a versatile and general approach for surface modification, synthesis of high-purity block copolymers and recycle of clickable solid substrate, which is of great importance for “green” syntheses and development of renewable resources. We have extended this method for the fabrication of functional graphene-polymer nanocomposites.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is an excellent journal which publishes high quality manuscripts in polymer science. It is natural for me to publish our best results in this journal due to its good visibility.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will be in Changchun, China, during 2-6 June at the International Symposium on Polymer Chemistry (PC2012). I attend IUPAC International Conference on Novel Materials and Synthesis (NMS) & International Symposium on Fine Chemistry and Functional Polymers (FCFP) regularly and will attend NMS-VIII & FCFP-XXII to be held in Xi’An, China in October this year.

How do you spend your spare times?

When I am free, I like travelling and reading.

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

Chances are given, I may want to be a historian since the complex history always attracts me. I may also want to be a writer because of my strong interest in poem, essay and novel.

Dr. Mihaela C. Stefan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at University of Texas at Dallas. She received a BS in Chemical Engineering, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Politehnica University Bucharest, Romania. She worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Krzysztof Matyjaszewski’s and Richard McCullough’s research groups at Carnegie Mellon University. She joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Dallas in August 2007.  Since 2007 she has attracted 9 graduate students, 31 undergraduate students, and 3 summer high school student into her research lab.  Currently, 6 graduate students and 6 undergraduate students are working in her lab. She has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers out of which 19 were published after joining UTD.

She received the NS&M Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009 and the Inclusive Teaching Diversity Award in 2012.  She is aslo a recipient of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from NSF, which is given to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research. Her research group is developing novel polymeric materials for organic electronics and for drug delivery applications.  The common theme on both research directions is the interdisciplinary training of students at the interface between organic/polymer chemistry and materials science.

For more information see here: http://www.utdallas.edu/~mci071000/

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

My parents were chemists and I started to visit their labs when I was only 5-6 years old. At the initial stage I was fascinated with the colors in the lab as my mom used to show me titrations. Sometimes my mom would take me to work on Saturdays because she could not take me to the kindergarten on weekends. Going to work with my mom was so much better than going to kindergarten. When I had to decide for college I choose to study chemical engineering because traditionally back in my home country when you study chemistry you prepare for a teaching career. At that time teaching was something I would have not considered as a career choice.  Now teaching is such an important part of my work and I can never imagine my life without going in the classroom to teach.

What was the motivation to write this review? (DOI: 10.1039/C1PY00453K)

I wrote the review as an invited paper for the themed issue on New Methods of Polymer Synthesis. The review describes the synthesis of block copolymers of polythiophene by Grignard metathesis (GRIM) polymerization.  My group works on the development of novel semiconducting polymers for organic electronics applications. Whenever possible we use Grignard metathesis method because it is a living polymerization which allows the control of the molecular weights and functional end groups of the semiconducting polymers.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is one of the leading journals in polymer science. This is my second paper to be published in Polymer Chemistry and both times I enjoyed the fast time to publication and the fair review process.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the International Conference on Science and Technology of Synthetic Metals ICSM 2012 which will be held on July 8-13 in Atlanta. I will also give an invited talk to the “Young Academic Investigators” Symposia organized by the Organic Division of ACS at the Fall 2012 ACS Meeting in Philadelphia.

How do you spend your spare times?

I do not have much spare time because we are trying to work hard to build a successful research group. However, when I have time to take a break from my work I like to read biographies. I love reading biographies of scientists and I always look to buy books. I also enjoy playing with my cats. In the future I hope to find some spare time to volunteer for a shelter as I love animals, especially cats.

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

I would probably have pursued a career as a cat veterinarian if I was not a scientist.

Christophe Boisson studied chemistry at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (France). He received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Paris-Sud 11 in 1996 for investigations of the chemistry of f-metal amide complexes. The same year, he became research associate at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and he joined the group of Dr Roger Spitz at CPE-Lyon where he developed research in the field of copolymerization of ethylene with butadiene. In 2008, he was appointed CNRS research director at the laboratory Chemistry, Catalysis, Polymers and Processes (UMR 5265 – CNRS, CPE Lyon, University Lyon 1). His research interests are focused on homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for the polymerization of olefins.

Details of his research activities can be found at: http://c2p2-cpe.com/index.php

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

When I was a young student, chemistry was the scientific disciplines I succeeded best. This was at first a good reason to start learning chemistry but very rapidly I was fascinating by the arrangement of atoms to make molecules and the infinite possibilities of structure creation offered by chemistry.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper (DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20063E)?

Synthetic rubbers in the tyre industry are principally based on homo- and co-polymers of butadiene. Our group has a long standing interest in the polymerization of butadiene. We have developed neodymium catalysts for stereospecific polymerization of butadiene but especially for the design of new elastomers named EBR (ethylene-butadiene rubber) bearing unique microstructures. More recently, we focused on nickel catalysts for butadiene polymerization since these complexes are less sensitive to functional groups than neodymium systems and provide opportunities to prepare new materials. In the present paper, an investigation of the activation of nickel(0) and nickel(II) precursors using a range of activators is reported and several new efficient catalysts are described. These investigations permit us to rationalize the formation of the actives species in the case of the industrial catalysts Ni(O₂CR)₂/BF₃.OEt₂/AlEt₃.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

In the editorial of the first issue of this young journal, Prof. David Haddleton wished that “the next generation of polymer chemists see Polymer Chemistry as their own journal representing what they need from their top journal”. I think it is the case and it is a very good reason to publish my works in this journal.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

4^th International Conference on Polyolefin Characterization (Houston – October 21-24, 2012)

International Conference on the Reaction Engineering of Polyolefins (Ferrara, Italy, June 17-20 2013 internet site :  www.incorep.org)

How do you spend your spare time?

I think it is very important to save time for family in spite of our very exiting but also time consuming research work. Playing with my children, cooking and running are my favourite spare time hobbies.

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

My father was a chef, I will certainly enjoy creating my own dishes which I could taste contrary to chemicals.

Takuya Yamamoto received his PhD in 2004 from the University of Utah where he worked with Prof. Peter J. Stang.  He joined JST ERATO Aida Nanospace Project as a researcher in 2005.  Since 2008, he has been an assistant professor of the Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology.  He received the Tokyo Tech Young Investigator Engineering Award from Tokyo Institute of technology in 2010, Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan in 2011, and Challenging Research President’s Honorary Award from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2011.  His current research interests include the synthesis and self-assembly of cyclic polymers for the development of functional materials.

For more information, see: http://www.op.titech.ac.jp/lab/tezuka/ytsite/Japanese/Members/yamamoto.html and http://www.op.titech.ac.jp/lab/tezuka/ytsite/English/Members/yamamoto.html

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Many of my relatives are related to scientific professions, and some of them are in chemistry.  Since I was small, I have had opportunity to be exposed to the state-of-the-art technology of the field, which inspired me to pursue my career in chemistry.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/C1PY00475A)

Cyclic polymers are gaining growing interest due to the distinctiveness from linear and branched counterparts by the absence of chain ends, and their unique properties often rely on the particular topology.  Furthermore, cyclic block copolymers constructed by the combination of incompatible segments may provide novel properties and functions upon self-assembly giving rise to the amplification of “topology effects”.  We previously reported that a micelle formed from a poly(butyl acrylate)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) cyclic amphiphile exhibits significantly enhanced thermal stability in comparison with one from a linear counterpart (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 10251).  This finding is regarded as the first example of an amplified topology effect by a synthetic cyclic polymer upon self-assembly.

To promote further studies on the subject, the development of synthetic process for amphiphilic cyclic polymers is inevitable to provide a variety of cyclic block copolymers having the programmed combination of segment components with narrow PDIs.  In particular, amphiphilic block copolymers with polystyrene segments are of an importance due to their universality and extensive studies on self-assembled structures from linear polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide).  Hence, we expected that relevant cyclic polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide) counterparts could provide unique opportunities to reveal novel topology effects upon self-assembly.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

We were invited to write a review in Polymer Chemistry (“Topological polymer chemistry: a cyclic approach toward novel polymer properties and functions”, Polym. Chem. 2011, 2, 1930), which was selected as one of the top ten most-read articles twice.  To publicize more of our research from the journal, we submitted the original paper.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 61st SPSJ Annual Meeting (May 29-31 in Yokohama, Japan), Warwick 2012 (July 9-12 in Warwick, UK), and the 61st Symposium on Macromolecules, SPSJ (Sept. 19-21 in Nagoya, Japan).

How do you spend your spare times?

I jog on weekends and sometimes hang out with my friends.

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

I haven’t thought much about it.  Probably, an ordinary corporate employee.

Julian Zhu, professor of chemistry at Université de Montréal, obtained his B.Sc. from Nankai University in China and his Ph.D. from McGill University in Canada in 1988.  Having worked as a postdoctoral researcher in France and in Toronto, he started his academic career at Université de Montréal, where he is now a holder of the Canada Research Chair on Polymeric Biomaterials. 

His research interests are in the synthesis and characterization of new polymeric materials that can be used for biomedical and industrial applications.  Examples include new hydrogels for soft tissue replacement, biodegradable polymers for drug delivery systems, dental filling resins and polymeric support materials in combinatorial synthesis in drug discovery. Various advanced nuclear magnetic resonance techniques including NMR imaging have been used in the characterization of polymers, especially in the study of diffusion of small and macromolecules in polymeric systems. He and his co-workers have also proposed a new physical model of diffusion which has been used successfully in the interpretation of the diffusion phenomenon in polymer gels. He and his research group have made many contributions in soft materials sciences and polymer chemistry. He has co-authored more than 180 research articles published in scientific journals.  He has been invited to give lectures on his research work in international conferences as well as in many research institutions.  He has been awarded the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship as well as the AstraZeneca Research Award by the Canadian Society for Chemistry. His collaborations with other colleagues in Canada and other countries have been fruitful. Many researchers and students from other countries (including France, Germany, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, China, India, Chili, Mexico, just to name a few) have made their research stays in his lab.  This further enhanced the research capacity and progress of his group.

The inherently interdisciplinary nature of the research work in Zhu’s group creates many natural links with other established areas of strength at the Université de Montréal, the École Polytechnique, McGill University and several research institutes and hospital research centers in the area. As a result, research in this area will gain increasing international visibility for Université de Montréal in ways that can strengthen its traditional areas of excellence and make it likely that new fields are developed.

He presently directs a group of 11 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.  His group offers a multidisciplinary environment for the training of young researchers in the development of integrated skills in synthesis, structural analysis, and physical characterization.  Students trained in this environment will help provide Canada with the skilled personnel it needs to remain competitive in materials science. For more information, see here: www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/zhuj.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Chemistry offers solutions to the problems encountered to have sustainable economic and technological developments: such as energy shortage, environmental protection, resources, etc. A polymer chemist can help to solve many of these problems. I often tell the students: The public often has the false impression that chemistry caused many problems related to our environment; we need to re-affirm to the public that we chemists are part of the solution to the problems. With new and better chemistry, we can address such problems.

(The real answer: I actually wanted to be a mathematician, but I had a very good score in chemistry for my entrance exam held in China that year and I was assigned to a chemistry department. It happened that Nankai University had a very good chemistry department and I loved chemistry ever since and became a polymer chemist.)

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper?
(DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20168B)

We wanted to use natural compounds to prepare new materials to improve the biocompatibility and bioacceptance of polymers to be used in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. Bile acids are natural compounds that are stored in our gallbladder in large quantities and help in the digestion of lipids in our body (and also in most animals). We use bile acids and other biomolecules to make new polymeric materials, study their properties and explore their potential use.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is a new journal with a good visibility in our field. We have published several papers in this journal including an invited review paper.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I attend ACS meetings regularly and will attend the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Chemistry to be held in Calgary in May this year. I was also invited to attend the International Symposium on Polymer Chemistry to be held in Changchun, China in June.

How do you spend your spare times?

I love gardening, and I grow all kinds of vegetables. I bring the over-supplies to my friends, neighbors and students. The only problem for me is that the summer is a bit too short in Canada.

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

I have not given much thought about an alternative profession in life. I always liked to teach and to do research. I may want to be a lawyer, not for the money, but for the sake of a good argument. I may also want to be a linguist or a translator; all the different languages in the world fascinate me.

Bin Liu received her BSc degree in organic chemistry from Nanjing Universiy and Ph.D.degree in polymer chemistry from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2001. She was a postdoctoral fellow and an assistant researcher from 2001-2005 at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department of NUS as an assistant professor by the end of 2005 and was promoted to associate professor in 2010. Her current research focuses on conjugated polymers in sensing, imaging and optoelectronic device applications.

Details of her research activities can be found at: http://cheed.nus.edu.sg/~cheliub/main.php 

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

My daddy, with a major in French, always had a dream to become a good scientist. He started training me to love science when I was a little girl. I enjoyed reading science books rather than literatures and novels in general. I was always curious about the ways molecules interact to transform into products. I was lucky to be trained as a chemist during undergraduate and graduate studies. I found being a chemist was very rewarding. I’m always delighted to see the impact that a chemist can make on our society by producing new materials and new technologies.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/c2py20113E)

My research group has a long-standing interest in developing conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) for sensing and imaging applications. Our recent studies reveal that CPEs have shown high brightness, good photostability and low cytotoxicity, which are promising fluorescent probes for cellular imaging and subcellular protein sensing. It remains a challenge to develop CPEs with high fluorescence quantum yield in the far-red/near infrared (FR/NIR) region. Of equal importance is to develop CPEs with absorption maxima that match the commercial laser excitation sources for maximum performance. The paper reported a simple strategy to design CPEs that simultaneously meet the two challenges by clicking alkyne-PEG-COOH to azide-containing poly(fluorene-co-benzoxadiazole). The terminal –COOH allows further conjugation to peptide for targeted cancer cell imaging. This work represents a simple new strategy to synthesize CPEs, which will open new opportunities to optimize the CPE performance in various applications.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

We always try to balance our publications in different journals from ACS, RSC and Wiley. Polymer chemistry is an exciting new journal which publishes interesting and innovative research related to all aspects of polymers. I also enjoyed the fast review and publication process. The free-of-charge for color Figures is also very attractive.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

International Conference of Young Researchers on Advanced Materials, 2012, 1st – 6th of July, Singapore.

How do you spend your spare time?

Reading, cooking and playing with kids.

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

I would probably be a good chef, taking care of cooking and gardening. Can play some food chemistry too!

(On behalf of Cyrille Boyer)

Dr Kristofer Thurecht graduated from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2005 with a PhD in polymer chemistry. He took up a postdoctoral position in the UK working on polymer synthesis in supercritical CO₂ with Prof. Steve Howdle at Nottingham University. In 2007, Dr Thurecht was simultaneously awarded a Ramsay Centenary Fellowship and 1851 Research Fellowship in the UK. Dr Thurecht returned to Australia in 2008 on an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship. He currently holds a joint position with the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland. His current interests lie in developing polymer architectures for theranostics. He is an ARC Future Fellow.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?
When I was in high school I had a fantastic science teacher who set up a lunch-time science club. He encouraged us to do many different experiments across all disciplines of science including biology, chemistry and physics. We made rockets, studied fossils and of course, blew things up! This was what piqued my interest in science and this carried through to University. I think this early excitement with the broader sciences has dictated my career path into polymer chemistry where research now is very much an interdisciplinary field.  

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry Minireview (DOI:10.1039/C2PY20132A)?
Nanomedicine is an extremely dynamic field that bridges various disciplines. One important component of nanomedicine is the ability to diagnose and monitor diseases, and ultimately, probe the efficacy of a treatment/therapy. An integral part of this research is the development of more sensitive molecular imaging agents. Polymers offer obvious advantages for molecular imaging, in particular the ability to control circulation times in vivo, excretion mechanisms as well as allowing the possibility for multi-modal imaging. We are particularly motivated by the exciting development of new hardware that allows dual imaging in a single instrument – advancement of this technology can only be realised by concomitant development of biologically relevant imaging probes. We believe that polymers will (and already do) play a significant role in this field and this inspired us to write the current research article.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?
In the two years since its inception, Polymer Chemistry has consistently published high quality articles in the various streams related to polymer research. I thought this was a great forum to describe the evolving application of polymers in molecular imaging. RSC journals also have a very fast publication rate which always is a bonus!

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

• 3rd International Nanomedicine Conference, Sydney, Australia, July 2-4, 2012.
• Warwick2012, Warwick, UK, July 9-12, 2012.
• World Molecular Imaging Congress, Dublin, Ireland, September 5-8, 2012.

How do you spend your spare time?
My spare time is almost always spent with the family. We love camping and fishing in particular, and also spend a lot of time in our vege garden (also a good way to get kids to eat their vegetables!!!!).

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
If I wasn’t a chemist, I would probably have been a veterinarian, or maybe a marine biologist – working on the Barrier Reef every day is somewhat appealing!

(Posted on behalf of Cyrille Boyer)

Henri Cramail received his engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie et de Physique de Bordeaux in 1987. He obtained his PhD from the LCPO, University of Bordeaux 1, in 1990 for studies in the field of ring-opening metathesis polymerization under the supervision of Profs Alain Soum and Michel Fontanille. After a post-doctoral stay with Prof. W.J. Feast at the University of Durham, U.K., he became an Assistant Professor of Polymer Chemistry at the University of Bordeaux 1 and, since 1999, he has been appointed Professor of Polymer Chemistry at the same University. In 2004, he was awarded the position of Junior Member of the ‘Institut Universitaire de France’. Since 2007, he is the Director of the Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO). His research interests concern (i) the coordination polymerization of olefins with a specific focus on single-site catalyst organic supports, (ii) step-growth polymerizations in dispersed media (organic phase, water, super critical CO₂) to design core-shell particles with specific properties and, more intensively today, (iii) the development of new bio-based polymers from renewable resources (vegetable oils, terpenes) through green pathways (catalysis and processes).

Please follow the link for further information on Henri’s laboratory and his recent paper in Polymer Chemistry.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

The real motivation to be a chemist is probably the strong will to discover and to ‘create’ something new that can have an impact in our daily life! But shall I (we) succeed?

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/c2py00588c)

It is well-known that metallocene catalysts used for olefin polymerization have to be fixed onto a support to be used in industry. However, some single site catalysts may be deactivated or loose their stereoselectivity when supported on classical inorganic carriers (MgCl2, silica) and, in addition, traces of these inorganic supports may remain in the polyolefin material thus affecting its properties. Making more versatile organic supports composed of self-assemblies of either functional polymers or block-copolymers can thus be a solution to overcome these two issues. Moreover, the methodology we have developed in this manuscript is very simple and quite efficient to prepare polyolefin beads, under mild conditions.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

This is a relatively new journal that attracted me because of the quality of the work published and also because having a new journal mostly devoted to the Chemistry of polymers is, from my point of view, very important for our scientific community.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 103rd AOCS meeting in California (Long Beach, CA) on 01-04 may 2012 and the 44th IUPAC world Polymer Congress in Virginia on 24-29 june 2012.

How do you spend your spare time?

I practise sports as much as I can (running, playing ‘pelote basque’) and I also try to manage a family wine business (Bordeaux Wine of course!)…

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

Probably a (true) wine-maker (chemistry again!)

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemical engineer?
Since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by technology. In the mid 1980s my initial plan was to study computer science. After visiting some universities, however, I came to conclusion this topic was a bit too dry for me. Chemical Engineering struck me as the ideal study path, as it allowed me not only to learn about Chemistry and the art of making molecules but to combine it with aspects of physics and engineering in order to turn these molecules into functional materials, hopefully of use to advance society. The most exciting part is to have an open mind about science, in a way of modifying the principle of “thinking outside the box”, into “there is no box”. This approach we have in my Lab.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper?
The motivation was to take microfluidics as a method to fabricate polymer microcapsules through generation of double-emulsion droplets back to one of its simplest forms. In other words, to demonstrate the power of controlled droplet generation, using a very simple do-it-yourself device. The paper was a bit of fun with glass capillaries, plastic tubing and superglue, and actually has already been taken up into our undergraduate teaching program to introduce young scientists its versatility as a fabrication tool in chemistry.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?
It is an exciting and relatively new journal that contains great and innovative research related to all aspects of polymer chemistry. It already has become a top journal in the polymer scientific community, which means as a researcher you really cannot resist sending in manuscripts, which contain original and exciting work.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?
I will be going to the Polymers in Dispersed Media (PDM2012) conference to be held in Lyon (France) this April, the High Polymer Research Group (HPRG) end April/May, the 2012 meeting of the International Association of Colloid and Interface Scientists (IACIS) in Sendai (Japan), and of course the Warwick2012 international conference on polymer chemistry hosted by the MacrogroupUK and the UKPCF in July.

How do you spend your spare time?
I enjoy swimming, play the acoustic guitar and try to sing along to it, enjoy cooking, and really like to travel to new exciting places all over the world and experience local cultures.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
I probably would end up being some management guru trying to achieve a little bit less of the grey office attitude.

Ben Zhong Tang received his B.S. degree from South China University of Technology and Ph.D. degree from Kyoto University. He conducted postdoctoral research at University of Toronto and worked as a senior scientist in the central laboratory of NEOS Corp. He joined the Department of Chemistry at The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology as an assistant professor in 1994 and was promoted to chair professor in 2008. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. He received a Natural Science Award from the Chinese Government and a Senior Research Fellowship Award from the Croucher Foundation in 2007. He is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of RSC Polymer Chemistry Series, Editor of Polymer Bulletin, and News Contributor to Noteworthy Chemistry, an ACS electronic newsweekly.

Please follow the link for further information on Ben’s laboratory and his recent paper in Polymer Chemistry.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Many people become chemists because they love chemistry. This is not true in my case. I become a chemist because I was assigned to study chemistry. I was sort of an all-round pupil, good in almost every subject I had to learn at school, except for sports. When I took the entry examination for college study, I was chosen by a university and assigned to a major I did not apply for. Many people do things for which they have passion, but my approach is different: I cultivate my interest in the things I must do. This was largely true before I became an independent researcher as a faculty in Hong Kong. My motto is “enjoy doing the things I need to do”. This quality has enabled me to have a joyful career and quality life. I am proud of eventually becoming a chemist. I am happy to “play” with molecules everyday now that may lead to the creation of new knowledge, new materials, new technology…

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper? (DOI: 10.1039/c2py00586g)

My research group has been interested in developing new polymerization reactions using alkyne monomers as building blocks. It has been a natural extension for us to study “click” polymerization. When Dr. Anjun Qin was working in my lab in Hong Kong as a postdoctoral associate, he successfully utilized click reaction to synthesize poly(triazole)s. The click polymerization, however, has to use metallic catalysts, which causes such problems as poor solubility of the polymers due to the complexation of the catalytic species with the triazole moieties in the reaction products and the difficulty in completely removing the catalyst residues that are adversely affect the physical, especially optical, properties of the polymers. Dr. Qin is now a faculty at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, helping me run my research lab at the university. We worked with our students in Hangzhou and Hong Kong with a motivation to develop metal-free click polymerization. The work is exciting because we can now prepare functional poly(triazole)s with high regioregularity (F_1,4 up to ~95%) in high yields (up to 100%) by simple heating in the absence of a metallic catalyst.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

I am serving as a science news contributor to Noteworthy Chemistry, an ACS electronic newsweekly. I constantly read research papers published in many journals. Although Polymer Chemistry is a new journal, the papers it has published have attracted my attention because of their high quality. I have thus decided to send our work to Polymer Chemistry for publication. The review and publication have been fast. It has been a pleasant experience to communicate with the Editors.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 44th IUPAC World Polymer Congress in Virginia on 24–29 June 2012 and the 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia on 19–23 August 2012.

How do you spend your spare time?

Do aerobics, play tennis, sing songs, or listen to music.

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

I liked literature and arts when I was young. I might choose poet, novelist, painter or singer as my profession if I had choice.