리섕 연구실

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a cheap, renewable, and easily accessible carbon source, commonly generated as a waste gas in enormous quantities globally. The utilization of CO2 as a feedstock for polymer production represents a feasible solution to mitigate CO2 emissions and realize a net-zero carbon economy. We conducted catalytic cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides to prepare cyclic carbonate monomers, then utilize the cyclic carbonates to generate homopolymers and copolymers. Current projects include the synthesis of CO2-derived polyurethane homopolymers and copolymers and CO2-derived poly(cyclic carbonate methacrylate) block copolymers as solid-state polymer electrolytes. A key component of effective gene therapy is the delivery of DNA to the target cells. As DNAs are negatively charged and prone to enzymatic digestion, proper delivery requires the DNAs to be condensed and to assume size and surface properties suitable for cell transfection. We tackle this issue by modifying the DNA segments with hydrophilic polymers to create DNA-polymer conjugates, then complexing the DNA-polymer conjugates with positively charged molecules to form polyelectrolyte complex micelles (PCMs). The PCM morphology is examined by X-ray scattering and microscopy, and the characterization data are used to guide our design process.