Guest Speaker – Inorganic (CHEM 754) – April 11, 2023

Bio
Massimiliano (Max) Delferro was born in Parma, Italy and is now a US citizen.  His education includes a BS from the University of Parma (Italy) in Inorganic Chemistry, and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Parma (Italy) in Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry. Dr. Delferro is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and he is a former Chair and President of the Catalysis Club of Chicago.  He was the recipient of the Argonne Board of Governors Award in 2021 and of the R & D 100 Award, Plastic Upcycling, in 2022.  In addition to his current responsibilities at the Argonne National Laboratory, Dr. Delferro is a Scientist with The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), University of Chicago, and he is Deputy Director for the EFRC-Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP).

Abstract
Polymers are irreplaceable in the global economy, with myriad uses in packaging, construction, transportation, electronics, and healthcare industries. The choice to use plastics, instead of other materials, is expedient because they are lightweight, strong, and chem. resistant, with a variety of properties enabled by their molecular and macromolecular structures. However, their massive-scale manufacture, single-use function, and long environmental lifetimes have created a crisis of plastics waste, with neg. impacts on human and animal health, disruptions to ecosystems, and underutilization of our carbon-based natural resources. Unfortunately, conventional mechanical recycling methods are limited by considerable technol. and economic challenges. Chemical upcycling, defined as selective conversion of waste into products with higher value than the virgin material, is an emerging alternative to classical recycling methods. Converting polyolefin plastics into chemicals and materials with desirable properties requires the ability to break inert carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds in the long chains of chemical indistinguishable repeat units at regularly spaced intervals and to introduce functionality into the products. We are creating abiotic, robust, selective multifunctional inorganic catalytic architectures to achieve such cleavage reactions, producing fragments with a narrow range of chain lengths. We have also discovered new transformations of polyolefins into recyclable lubricants, degradable surfactants, and re-polymerizable macromonomers. Synergy between experts in inorganic and polymeric materials crosscuts our expertise in molecular-scale and heterogeneous catalysis, creating multi-disciplinary collaborative projects to achieve the goals.