Sarah Olsen

Biography

My research focuses on synthesizing copolymers of commercially relevant monomers with heterocyclic disulfides of different ring sizes. Incorporating the 5-membered ring lipoic acid, the 6-membered ring dithiane, and other cyclic disulfides into the polymer backbone can yield novel polymeric materials with improved degradability and tunable material properties. By taking advantage of both thermal and photochemical free radical polymerization techniques, copolymers of various monomer classes are readily obtained using simple and scalable chemistries. In addition, adding functional groups to the relatively inexpensive cyclic disulfide monomers allows for easy insertion of functionality throughout the copolymer. Through synthesizing and characterizing these cyclic disulfide-based copolymers, my goal is to discover more sustainable and better-performing alternatives to modern-day plastics.