Understanding and controlling the Stereochemistry of Free-Radical Polymerisation

Theory and experiment will be used to develop new methods for controlling the stereochemistry in free-radical polymerisation, one of the 'final frontiers' in this field. High-level quantum chemical calculations will be used to study the effect of solvent, Lewis acids and other additives on the stereospecificity of the propagation step, starting with known systems before moving to novel ones. Promising new control agents will be tested experimentally. This experimental feedback mechanism, which will include studies of the polymerisation kinetics and assignments of the stereochemistry of the resulting polymers, will also help us to continue to improve our new computational methodology for studying radical polymerisation.