Laboratory of Functional Polymers
Head of the Laboratory – Sergei N. Chvalun, Doctor of Sciences, Professor.
Main Fields of Interest:
Study on selfassembling processes in polymethacrylates with highly tapered side chains,
functional crown-ethers, phosphosanes, etc.
Structure and deformation behavior of the new nanoscale microphase separated polymers:
perfectly alternating polyketon elastomers, polyether-ester thermoplastic elastomers.
Study on specific deformation of polymers – “crazing”, with formation of highly porous
materials as perspective membranes and filled polymers.
High strength and high modulus polymer materials.
Structure and properties of Langmuir monolayers of the new cyclolinear polyorganosiloxanes.
Synthesis, structure and properties of metal/semiconductor-polymer nanocomposites.
Study on low-K polymers.
The most important recent results:
The thermal behavior and phase variety of self-assembling supramolecular structures formed
by the polymethacrylates and its macromonomers with the highly tapered side groups,
including the species with fluorinated alkyl tails was investigated.
Using as an organic compound the biologic 5- metoxytripamine (triptophane derivative) aminopyrydine (as a gistidine model), ethyleneamine, organic-inorganic hybrid heterocycles
were prepared. It was shown that the tris- ant tetracyclophosphazenes form the crystalline
lattice with the selfassembling of the units in the stacks.
Recent study reveals the nature of mechanical properties and deformation of some
nanostructured microphase separated polymer systems (thermoplastics and elastomers) which
allow purposeful variation of structure and composition of those composites with the aim to
obtain materials with desirable properties.
The new method of simultaneous low-temperature cocondensation of p-xylylene monomers
and metal or/and semiconductor vapors was proposed. This method allows to synthesised
nanocomposites with a number of unique physical chemical properties: they show a
significant photoeffect and reveal the catalytic, the diffusion and the sensoric properties.
Crazing, Low-K?
Representative recent publications:
1. Чвалун С.Н.// Природа. 2000. №7. С.53.
2. Y.K.Godovsky, E.V.Konyukhova, V.M.Neverov, S.N.Chvalun, B.Rieger, A.S.Abu-Surrah
Stretching Calorimetry and X-ray Characterization of Deformational Behavior of the New
High Molecular Weight Propene-Carbon Monoxide Alternating Co- and Terpolymers //
Macromol.Chem.Phys. 1999, V.200, N12,P.2636-2644
3. Soo-Young Park, Blackwell J., Chvalun S.N., Mailyan K.A., Pebalk A.V., Kardash I.E
The structure of poly(cyano-p-xylylene) // Polymer 2000 V.41 N8, P.2937-2945
4. Chvalun S.N., Shcherbina M.A., Bykova I.V., Cho J.D., Blackwell J., Percec V.
Temperature behavior of polymethacrylates with highly tapered side chains and their
macromonomers. // Vysokomolek. Soed. А. 2001. V.43. N1. P.40-52
5. Nikolaeva E.V., Ozerin S.A., Grigoriev A.E., Grigoriev E.I., Chvalun S.N., Gerasimov
G.N., Trakhtenberg L.I.// Materials Science & Engineering. 1999. C. 8-9. P.217.
Names of partnership contractors:
Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), Russian Science and Technology Ministry,
International Association for Promotion Cooperation with Scientist from New Independent
States (INTAS), Civil Research Development Foundation (CRDF), Case Western Reserve
University (USA), University of Ulm (Germany), Hitachi (Japan).