Biological macromolecules have evolved to bind to target molecules with unparalleled affinity and selectivity. Synthetic polymeric materials would offer numerous advantages as a platform for complex chemical separations, such scalability and tunability of chemical and physical properties. Despite our growing understanding of binding interactions, the rational design of macromolecular architectures able to distinguish small differences in target and off target molecules is a daunting challenge. Inspired by discoveries made using directed evolution and other high-throughput strategies for identification of functional biological macromolecules, we aim to develop a platform for synthetic polymers to identify the design principles required for selective molecular recognition. Our strategy of using dynamic covalent chemistry to “evolve” polymers capable of selective coordination within a complex mixture will be presented, with lanthanide isolation and separation selected as a model system.

Bioinspired evolution of synthetic polymers for selective metal ion separations

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.