N-isopropylacrilimide (NIPAM) polymers can directly undergo controllable mechanical changes by varying solution pH and temperature. An additional means of controlling this mechanical change can come from grafting complexes containing metal-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) bands, which can change the conformation of the gel upon activation by either an applied voltage or UV light. Thus, a metallopolymer composed from NIPAM and complexes with MLCT bands have high potential for material applications.Photoactive transition-metal complexes comprised of bipyridyl ligands coordinated to metal centers (Ruthenium and Nickel analogs) were synthesized and characterized in order to pinpoint a reproducible method for synthesizing each metallopolymer sample and to explore the relationship between mechanical properties and synthesis conditions. Polymers were synthesized by combining purified and characterized mixed-ligand metal complex comonomers with organic comonomers in emulsion polymerization. Polymers were tested for size uniformity by dynamic light scattering, while size distribution data was collected using MALDI-MS. Electronic transition data was collected via UV-Vis spectroscopy and spectrofluorometry. Inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy will be used to determine the concentration of successfully bound monomer to the PNIPAM-type polymers in comparison to concentration data taken of polymers synthesized using an alternative method.

Eliciting tunable mechanical properties in polymers grafted to optically-active metal complexes

247th National Meeting (2014)

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