Approaching Acrylic Copolymer Structures Differently

Dr. Figg is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the Department of Chemistry. His research specializes in polymer, organic, and protein chemistry.

Group Website: https://figglab.com/ 

Dr. Figg’s lecture is part of the 2026 St. Elmo Brady Symposium. Additional information can be found under the ‘St. Elmo Brady Lecture Series’ tab or by clicking this link.

Seminar Abstract:

Controlled polymerization techniques (e.g., reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization) provide access to defined copolymer structures where block sequence, monomer composition, and architecture can be readily tuned. Herein, syntheses approaches will be introduced that take advantage of photoinduced electron/energy transfer (PET) catalysis to control mechanisms of radical introduction. For example, we developed synthetic methods to yield polymers containing more precise control over monomer placement and sequence. Additionally, new ways of interfacing acrylic copolymers with proteins to modulation functions show that copolymer composition is critical to achieve protein recognition. Overall, new synthetic design considerations for acrylic copolymers using RAFT polymerization will be discussed. 

Biography: Adrian earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2013. During that time, he did research internships at Los Alamos National Lab and with Bert Meijer and Patricia Dankers at the Technical University of Eindhoven. He performed undergraduate research at UCSB with Craig Hawker and Brett Fors studying photomediated reactions and Suzuki coupling reactions. In 2018, Adrian earned his doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Florida with Brent Sumerlin. For his thesis, he developed synthetic methods to defined polymer structures using controlled radical polymerization (CRP). During this time, he was also a visiting research scholar with Prof. Cyrille Boyer at the University of New South Wales. Adrian conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University from 2018-2021. His postdoctoral research focused on applying concepts of CRP to oligonucleotide and protein assemblies. Adrian started as an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the Chemistry Department in 2021. The Figg Group develops CRP techniques to access macromolecules that can be programmed to study diseases or access high performance materials.