Tuesday, 26 June 2007 - 11:20 AM
Clayton 119
211

Uniform Mechanically oscillating PNIPAM Particles with Covalently Bound Ruthenium BZ Catalyst

Zhengdong Cheng1, Srinivasa Pullela1, Jingyi Shen1, and Manuel Marquez2. (1) Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, (2) Phillip Morris USA, Richmond, VA

Uniform PNIPAM gel particles with covalently bound tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) were synthesized via coordination chemistry between a ruthenium complex and a monodispersed poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) gel bearing bipyridine ligand. UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and confocal microscopy were employed for the characterization of the gel particles. Loading of the tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) complexes and the uniformity of the particle size were confirmed. The Mechanical oscillation of these particles was measured in a range of the BZ reactants' concentrations. Temperature change of the oscillation frequency and oscillation induction time revealed activation energy of the nonlinear chemical reactions and the role of the polymeric network. These particles have potential application in the study of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction facilitated annealing of colloidal crystals.