Mr Sam Richardson

Samuel J Richardson focuses on solution state cobalt chemistry and its application as a polymerisation catalyst.

​Samuel's PhD project has been focused in improving a specialised polymerisation methodoloy for generating low molecular weight polymers. Catalytic chain transfer polymerisation (CCTP) utilises cobalt(II) bisglyoximato complexes to catalytically terminate propagating polymer chains by abstracting a hydride alpha to the propagating radical. This hydride can then initiate an unreacted monomer unit to start a new propagating polymer chain. This project can be broken into three major sections: Developing an industrially applicable spectroscopic system for monitoring the progress of CCTP; Development and understanding of in situ forming cobalt catalysts to enhance the efficiency of CCTP; and Post-functionalisation of polymers generated using CCTP to open up new applications, such as surfactants and dispersants. 

Key Publications

​Richardson, S. J.; Blakey, I.; Thurecht, K. J.; Irvine, D. J.; Whittaker, A. K. (2016) Spectral normalisation by error minimisation for prediction of conversion in solvent-free catalytic chain transfer polymerisations. RSC Advances, 6, 73, 69484-69491. do:10.1039/C6RA06462K