Synthetic polymers are among the most important materials to modern society. The development of living and controlled polymerization methodologies have enabled the synthesis of precise macromolecular architectures with tailored polymer properties for diverse applications. This presentation will discuss the design, development, and use of organic photoredox catalysts in organocatalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization for the synthesis of well-defined polymers. Additionally, this presentation will discuss light-reflective materials from block polymers with reduced capacity for chain entanglement that self-assemble to photonic crystals for applications as heat reflective window coatings and objects possessing structural color.
Garret Miyake grew up in Oregon and earned his B.S. at Pacific University. He performed his Ph.D. studies with Eugene Chen at Colorado State University before conducting postdoctoral research with Robert Grubbs at the California Institute of Technology. He is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University. The Miyake group has research interests in the fields of photoredox catalysis, organocatalyzed atom-transfer radical polymerization, and the synthesis of block copolymers that self-assemble to photonic crystals. He has received the Sloan Research Fellowship, the Cottrell Scholar Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the American Chemical Society’s Division of Polymer Chemistry Mark Young Scholar Award.