Research Interests

The Pribyl Ham group is interested in leveraging recent advances in polymerization methodology to prepare well-defined polymers with complex topologies. Some structures of interest are cyclic polymers, polycatenanes, and polyrotaxanes. The combination of molecular-level topology and "smart" functionality (e.g. light, heat, or pH-responsiveness) will lead to materials with fascinating macroscopic properties to investigate.

Part of our research effort focuses on synthesizing new degradable thermoset polymers. Thermosets (chemically crosslinked polymer networks) often possess exceptional mechanical and thermal properties but they are generally not renewable or recyclable. We are developing chemistries to prepare high-performance thermosets with built-in "triggers" which will cause them to degrade into useful and/or benign small molecules on-demand.