Yuki Amano in the Department of Chemical System Engineering, won a Student Award (Silver) in the 79th Anuual meeting held by the Society of Chemical Engineers

On March 20, Yuki Amano in the Department of Chemical System Engineering, won a Student Award (Silver) in the 79th Anuual meeting held by the Society of Chemical Engineers. Awards are given to the poster sessions conducted by students. Prize winners are decided after examination of the manuscript and presentation.

<Abouot awarded research>

In situ ionic cross-linkable hydrogels are potentially useful for various applications in clinical, due to their rapid gelation by gentle mixing of polyelectrolytes and metal cations. Previously we had reported the synthesis of multi-arm star block copolymers (DPE-g-OEGA-b-AA) composed of Boltorn®H20 (dendritic polyester), oligo (ethylene glycol) acrylate (OEGA) chains, and poly (acrylic acid) chains and their rapid ion-crosslinking by addition of metal ions. In this study, I tried to clarify the ion-crosslinking mechanism of these polymers by analysis of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and compleximetric titration. In fact, I clarified the unique chelation of DPE-g-OEGA-b-AA due to their nano-sized spherical structure. Also, I showed that the copolymers started gelation even at a low concentration thank to their intermolecular ionic cross-linking reaction.

<Comments>

I am very happy to win this prize at my first attendance of an academic meeting. Although I had little knowledge about how to do research when I started this research last year, I feel that I learned a lot about research for a year. So, I appreciate Associate Professor Ito for his excellent supervising and laboratory members for many kind supports. In this April, I enter graduate school and start a new research. I wish I can enjoy my new research very much.