( Using environmentally safe compounds li...)Carnegie Mellon scientists use 'green' approach to transform plastics manufacturing

The revolutionary improvement in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) now enables large-scale production of many specialty plastics, according to the scientists, whose work appears in a special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) devoted to materials science. This edition will be published Oct. 17.

The new "green" version of ATRP will allow existing materials to be made more efficiently, reducing industrial purification costs before and after running a reaction and permitting the production of new, unprecedented materials.

"By reducing the level of the copper catalyst used in ATRP, we have made this process at least 100 times more efficient and much more amenable to industrial processes," said Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, J.C. Warner Professor of Natural Sciences and director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering in the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon.

Developed by Matyjaszewski, ATRP is a broadly adopted process that allows the production of specialty polymers for coatings, adhesives, lubricants, cosmetics, electronics and numerous other markets. ATRP's strength lies in its ability to combine chemically diverse subunits (monomers) into multiple arrangements that create specialized polymers. This technology enables production of "smart" materials that can respond intelligently to altered environments, such as changes in pressure, acidity, light exposure and other variables.

ATRP is being licensed to several companies that have already begun commercial production in the United States, Europe and Japan. But Matyjaszewski says large-scale production of polymers by ATRP has been limite
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Source:Carnegie Mellon University