Chemist brings precision with polymers to high school science
Polymers — make them with one molecular configuration, you get a plastic bag. Tweak that slightly, and you get bulletproof siding for vehicles, said Assistant Professor Adrian Figg.
Polymers are a type of macromolecule made up of smaller molecules called monomers that chain together to form a substantial amount of our material world. How they connect and in what order vastly changes the properties of the polymer and the general material they make up.
Of course, a tweak on the molecular level is far more complex than it sounds. With funding from a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award, Figg is working to pioneer different methods to precisely place chemical groups within polymer chains.
Polymer chemists like Figg have long faced the problem of getting the monomers to attach exactly the way they want them to as well as in a specific order. It can be done, but it is an arduous process, taking lots of time and resources to get the exact polymer they’re looking for. The other option is to get it good enough by creating “averages” of the monomers attached in the general sequence, which takes less time and resources, but sacrifices the precision.
Figg and his team have found a different way. They use photocatalysts, or a material that absorbs light, to facilitate the process in a way that allows for more precision when adding a monomer to the desired molecule.
Armed with this technique, the team can create new polymers, and new materials, that could aid in fields like biomedical sciences, drug discovery, antimicrobials, and plastic recycling.
Crowdsourcing chemistry
Polymers have shown to be a promising class of antimicrobials, which is where Figg’s work becomes interactive and educational for high school students. In this case, Figg is partnering with members of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute to develop Biotech in a Box kits for high schoolers to do their own research — in a way that will ultimately help Figg and his lab.
With these kits, high school students will collect and cultivate bacteria. Then, they can mix monomers and do their own photo-polymerizations. Once they have their own unique polymer, they will test it to see if it kills the cultivated bacteria. If it does, they’ll send the kit back to Figg’s lab, where his team can identify and describe its properties, defining what it is and how it behaves.
“We're essentially crowdsourcing polymer synthesis to find new properties,” Figg said. “It's discovery-based research on an important problem.”
Through this innovative approach, students aren’t just learning about science — they’re actively contributing to it.
