Oct 11
Chemistry Department Seminar: Jessica Lamb, University of Minnesota
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota
"A physical organic chemist's approach to polymer synthesis and catalysis"
Our understanding of organic chemistry can facilitate scientific advances in multiple adjacent fields, including polymer synthesis and catalysis. In this talk, I will introduce polymers and catalysis for a general audience and discuss how my background in physical organic chemistry helps my group solve challenges. In one story, I will share how understanding the mechanism of cationic and anionic polymerization enabled us to sequentially combine these fundamentally opposed mechanisms to form new materials. In another vignette, I will demonstrate how an understanding of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups results in rational tuning of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis via reversible binding.