National
Starch Award 2007
The recipient of the 2007 National Starch & Chemical Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Chemistry is Dr. Jason Rolland, who received his doctorate in 2005 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, under the direction of Professor Joseph M. DeSimone. Dr. Rolland's Ph.D. dissertation research focused on novel applications for perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs), primarily in the field of nanotechnology.
A versatile technique, Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates, or "PRINT(TM)" was developed that uses low surface energy PFPEs, cast onto nano-featured master templates and cured to form transparent fluoroelastomers. These become molds containing billions of nano-scale cavities that can be filled with liquid precursors that are solidified and harvested to yield highly monodisperse populations of shape-specific, engineered nano-scale particles. PRINT(TM) has tremendous promise in several applications including delivery of therapeutics such as siRNA and drugs for cancer treatment.
In addition to the PRINT process, PFPE elastomers can be patterned with micron and nanometer sized features and used as molds for imprint lithography. In collaboration with IBM researchers, Dr. Rolland showed that features as small as 70 nm can be replicated in organic resins with 1 nm precision using PFPE molds. The PFPE molds are superior in terms of resolution, release, and compatibility when compared to either poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) or rigid materials.
Multifunctional PFPE formulations were also synthesized and used to fabricate transparent, elastomeric, microfluidic devices compatible with organic solvents and chemical reagents. These replace PDMS, which swells in most organic solvents and is not compatible with microchemistry platforms. Multilayer, complex microfluidic chips containing pneumatic valves were fabricated from PFPE materials. Due to their compatibility with chemistry platforms, PFPE-based microfluidic chips have recently been used in the synthesis of radiolabelled biomarkers, such as [F-18] 2-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose for PET imaging.
The award will be presented at a symposium in Dr. Rolland’s honor to be held in the Division of Polymer Chemistry at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston August 19-23, 2007.
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