Annual Report 2007 - The Australian Nanotechnology Network

Mr Craig Bell (Uni of Queensland) – visit to the University of Pensylvania,
USA
Craig is a Postgraduate student and his area of research interest is the field of polymer chemistry,
specifically in living radical polymerisation for the formation of novel dendritic structures. These
structures will be used in applications such as drug delivery.
The purpose of his visit will be to conduct experiments on various monomers (for example,
acrylates and methacrylates) using the coordination chemistrydeveloped so far during my PhD
studies. The aim is to achieve ultra fast polymerizations and ultra high molecular weight
polymers by means of these transition metal (specifically copper) mediated polymerizations via a
single electron transfer mechanism. This work will be based around the newly accepted JACS
paper that is centred on polymerization of acrylates at room temperature to achieve ultra high
molecular weight polymers with well defined molecular weight and narrow polydispersity.
Craig Bell was awarded another Grant from the University of Queensland and did not take
up the ARCNN Overseas Travel Fellowship.
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