Lutz Polymer Lab
Undergraduate research in synthetic organic and polymer chemistry at St Lawrence University.
Polymers are everywhere. The high durability and relatively low cost of many synthetic polymers make them attractive and ubiquitous materials for uncountable packaging and structural applications. However, these same features lead to significant disadvantages: effective polymer recycling is still an unsolved problem, and plastics that make their way into the environment break down only over the course of centuries. Our current research focuses on designing new classes of degradable polymers that will have readily tunable physical and chemical properties.
Polymers are everywhere. The high durability and relatively low cost of many synthetic polymers make them attractive and ubiquitous materials for uncountable packaging and structural applications. However, these same features lead to significant disadvantages: effective polymer recycling is still an unsolved problem, and plastics that make their way into the environment break down only over the course of centuries. Our current research focuses on designing new classes of degradable polymers that will have readily tunable physical and chemical properties.