Information

Education
  • A.A., Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA, 1980
  • B.S., Textile Science, University of California, Davis, 1983
  • B.A., Chemistry, University of California, Davis, 1983
  • M.S., Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, 1985
  • Ph.D., Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, 1990
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chemistry, 1990-1991
Principal Research Interests

Synthesis and characterization of novel polymeric materials, including amphiphilic organic nanoparticles, functionalized biodegradable polymers, biomaterials, cyclic polymers, fluorinated polymers and materials with arene-perfluoroarene pi-pi stacking interactions, glycopolymers, sustainable materials, and liquid crystalline polymers, using both step and living chain polymerizations to produce polymers with a range of molecular architectures.

Representative Publications
  1.  Mehta, B.;  Watt, P.;  Soucek, M.D.;  Pugh, C.  Moderate Temperature Curing of Plant Oils with Bismaleimdes via the Ene Reaction.  Industrial & Eng. Chem. Res. 2016, 55, 11727-11735.  DOI 10.1021/acs.iecr.6b03004.  One of 20 papers included in the I&EC Research  Virtual Special Issue “Invited Papers from ACS San Diego”  http://pubs.acs.org/page/iecred/vi/sandiego-national-meeting2016.  Highlighted in Advances in Engineering:  https://advanceseng.com/chemical-engineering/moderate-temperature-curing-plant-oils-bismaleimides-ene-reaction/.
  2. Nakano, S.;  Piedrahita, C.R.;  Onozuka, R.;  Adachi, K.;  Tsukahara, Y.;  Pugh, C.;  Kyu, T.  Effect of Chain Architectures of Star-Shaped Poly(ethylene glycol) Macromonomers on Enhancement of Thermal, Mechanical, and Electrochemical Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes.  Chem. Lett. (Jpn) 2018, 47, 587-590;   https://www.journal.csj.jp/doi/10.1246/cl.171209.
  3. Raut, P.;  Swanson, N.;  Kulkarni, A.;  Pugh, C.;  Jana, S.C. Poly(butadiene-graft-pentafluorostyrene) as a Coupling Agent for Carbon Black Filled Rubber Compounds.  Polymer 2018, 148, 247-258.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2018.06.025
  4. Debnath, D.;  Baughman, J.A.;  Datta, S.;  Weiss, R.A.;  Pugh, C.  Determination of the Radical Reactivity Ratios of 2-(N-Ethylperfluorooctanesulfonamido)ethyl Acrylate and Methacrylate in Copolymerizations with  N,N-Dimethylacrylamide by in-situ 1H NMR Analysis as Established for Styrene – Methyl Methacrylate Copolymerizations.  Macromolecules 2018, 51, 7951-7963;  chosen as ACS Editor’s Choice, open access. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01526
  5. Kulkarni, A.;  Pugh, C.;  Jana, S.C.;  Wims, D.T.;  Gawad, A.A.  Crosslinking of SBR Compounds for Tire Tread Using Benzocyclobutene Chemistry.  (ACS) Rubber Chem. Tech. 2019, 92, 25-42;  published on-line November 2018.  https://doi.org/10.5254/rct.18.81512