Post-Doctoral Fellows Index

Lucas Dos Santos

Lucas Dos Santos is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Polymer Science, The University of Akron, OH. He obtained his bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina in 2003.

He joined the Puskas group as a Ph.D. candidate in 2004. His research interests include synthesis, kinetics, architecture characterization and mechanical properties of arborescent polyisobutylene (arbPIB) and its block copolymers made by carbocationic polymerization.


 

 

Synthesis of Novel Arborescent Polyisobutylenes for Systematic Structure-Property Relationship Studies


Reaction scheme for the synthesis of arbPIB and its block copolymers

 

 

Project Objectives: Generate knowledge in polymer structure-property relationships using arborescent polyisobutylene based polymers

  • Understanding the mechanism and kinetics of arbPIB synthesis by:
    • In-situ FTIR monitoring of the synthesis
    • Polymer characterization
    • Architecture determination by SEC and link destruction
  • Scale-up the synthesis of arborescent polyisobutylene based copolymers
  • Control reaction conditions to obtain arbPIBs with controlled structure


FTIR monitoring system