Patton Research Group

Welcome to the home page of the Patton Research Group!!  We are located in the Shelby Thames Polymer Science Research Center on the main campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS.

Research in the Patton Group is centered on the design of new polymeric materials.  We are particularly interested in the design of functional polymer surfaces and thin films with applications ranging from antifouling coatings to fuel cell membranes.  Our work environment is team-oriented and  interdisciplinary bringing together scientists with expertise in polymer synthesis, surface chemistry, thin film fabrication, and surface analytical techniques for the design of functional polymer surfaces. 

News and Events

"Clicking" Surfaces with Sunlight

Engineering the chemistry and topography of surfaces affords technological advancements for a variety of applications ranging from biosensors to microelectronics. In this work, graduate student Ryan Hensarling and coworkers demonstrated thiol-yne click chemistry as a modular platform for rapid fabrication of highly functional, patterned, and multicomponent surfaces.  The radical-mediated reaction of a thiol with an alkyne generates a dithioether adduct in near quantitative yields under ambient air, temperature, and humidity conditions.  Here, brush surfaces expressing a three-dimensional configuration of “yne” functionalities were modified with high efficiency and short reaction times (several minutes) using a library of commercially available thiols, including functional thiols that demonstrate applicability for pH responsive surfaces and for bioconjugation.  Patterned and multicomponent brush surfaces were obtained using a simple UV photopatterning technique and sequential thiol-yne reactions.  Since thiyl radicals can be generated using visible light, surfaces were modified with thiol-yne click reactions outdoors using sunlight as the radiation source.  These results suggest the possibility of large scale surface modifications using renewable energy resources. 

Further reading: Hensarling, R.; Doughty, V.; Chan, J.; Patton, D.
 "Clicking Polymer Brushes with Thiol-Yne Chemistry: Inside and Out"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009 ASAP Article Link