Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Department
Chemistry
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
A degradable polymer with proposed applications in drug delivery was synthesized and characterized. This polymer was grown from a difunctional initiator, a "core" that is able to grow two polymer chains and able to degrade in the presence of oxidizing agents such as peroxides. During the first part of this project, poly(methyl methacrylate) was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization using commercially-available reagents in order to develop an optimal synthesis technique. This technique was then used to synthesize the degradable polymer. After introducing hydrogen peroxide, the molecular weight of the degradable polymer decreased in two different experiments, confirming its hypothesized behavior.
Advisor(s) or Committee Chair
Dr. Lawrence Hill, Dr. Rui Zhang, Siera Bramschreiber
Disciplines
Chemistry | Polymer Chemistry
Recommended Citation
Collins, Christopher, "Synthesis and Characterization of Degradable Polymers" (2019). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 824.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/824