OCCI Lecture Series: Dr Jeremy Wulff

• In-person event
• 447, Tory Building, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6

A Universal Polymer Crosslinker: the Back Story

Prof. Jeremy Wulff
Department of Chemistry
University of Victoria

The addition of chemical crosslinks to polymer materials can increase mechanical strength, improve high temperature performance, reduce material creep, and provide resistance to chemical, biological and electrical degradation. However, it can be challenging to introduce new crosslinks into existing lowfunctionality polymers without resorting to high-energy processes wherein chain fragmentation competes with crosslinking. We developed a universal chemical crosslinker that reacts with virtually any aliphatic polymer through low-barrier C–H insertions (Science, 2019, 366, 875-878). In addition to functioning as a useful polymer strengthening agent, our crosslinker also acts as a broad-spectrum adhesive for low-surface-energy materials. This presentation will focus provide some context for the work, by trying to address the puzzling question of how a complex molecule synthesis / chemical
biology group somehow managed to publish a polymer materials paper in Science.