URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2017_Melissa-McCarthy

Kiesewetter’s team synthesizes new, biodegradable, monomers to replace existing materials - making new monomers - the yellow solution with the flask submerged in a heating bath of aluminum beads.

(plastics) are made through processes that use catalysts. “Catalysis is key,” he says. “We can lessen the societal burden of plastics by developing catalysts that access current materials more efficiently or that access replacement materials that are environmentally friendly.” Given the vast amount the U.S. economy derives as a result of manufacturing and selling these materials, the development of efficient processes for polymer synthesis is of great importance. Kiesewetter aims to develop more efficient catalysts that function under mild reaction conditions and enable better control of the polymer structures.

Plastics are both a tremendous benefit and burden for humanity. While these materials have revolutionized our daily lives, they are entering the ocean at an alarming rate, more than ten million metric tons in 2010. If current trends hold, by 2050 there will be a greater mass of plastic in the oceans than fish. For one Ocean State chemist – University of Rhode Island (URI)’s Assistant Professor of Chemistry Matthew Kiesewetter – the opportunities to lessen the burdens of plastic while increasing its benefits is a driving force. Kiesewetter conducts fundamental and applied research on ring-opening polymerization using organic catalysts. A catalyst is a chemical compound that speeds up a chemical reaction, and most polymers

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