Chemical Society Seminar: Jeffrey Moore - Autonomous Function for Life Cycle Control of Polymer Composites

Abstract:

In this talk I will discuss the molecular design of organic structural materials that mimic the ability of living systems to protect, report, heal and even regenerate themselves in response to damage, with the goal of increasing lifetime, safety and sustainability of many manufactured items. I will emphasize recent developments in frontal ring-opening metathesis polymerization (FROMP) to manufacture composites with minimal energy consumption. The talk will also present a workflow for the design, evaluation, and development of new “mechanophores”, a term that has come to mean a molecular unit that chemically responds in a selective manner to a mechanical perturbation. Mechanophores are building blocks for the development of mechanoresponsive materials with protection and sensing functions. The impact and challenges of introducing these capabilities in real-world situations will be mentioned.

Bio:

Jeffrey Moore received his B.S. in chemistry (1984) and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering with Samuel Stupp (1989), both from the University of Illinois. He then went to Caltech as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow working with Robert Grubbs. In 1990, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and in 1993 returned to the University of Illinois, where he is currently a professor in the departments of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair. Jeff is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society (ACS); he has received the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and has been recognized as a “Faculty Ranked Excellent by their Students.” For 14 years he served as an associate editor for the Journal of American Chemical Society. In 2014, he was selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and in 2016 was chosen as the recipient for the ACS Edward Leete Award in Organic Chemistry. He received the Royal Society of Chemistry‘s Materials Chemistry Division 2018 Stephanie L. Kwolek Award. He has published over 400 articles covering topics from technology in the classroom to self-healing polymers, mechanoresponsive materials and shape-persistent macrocycles. He is currently serving as the Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.