Karen L. Wooley’s first publication of her independent career appeared in Macromolecules in 1995, and she has published a total of 50 articles in Macromolecules (1992 – 2016). Reaching a total of 50 publications in Macromolecules during this year prior to the 50th-year celebration of Macromolecules is an interesting coincidence that will be highlighted by selection of a series of those publications that describe the historical evolution of degradable polymer systems designed and developed in the Wooley laboratory. That initial publication in 1995 described poly(silyl ester)s as a new family of hydrolytically-degradable polymers with attunable stabilities. Several other reports of variations in the synthetic methods, compositions, structures, degradation kinetics and other properties followed. This presentation will progress from the poly(silyl ester)s to comparative studies of linear vs. hyperbranched polycarbonates that were explored in the 1990’s and 2000’s, and will conclude with the recent shift to natural product-based building blocks for the construction of polycarbonates.

Historical evolution of degradable polymers in the Wooley laboratory: From poly(silyl ester)s to natural product-based polycarbonates

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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