Susquehanna Valley Section

October 2005 Meeting

The three hundred fifty-ninth meeting of the Section will be held on Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at Bucknell University. A reception and dinner will be followed by a guest presentation by Dr. Elizabeth A. Williams entitled "NMR Characterization of Polymers".

Reception / Social Hour: 5:00 p.m. Room 240 of the Langone Center
Dinner: 6:00 p.m. Room 240 of the Langone Center
Meeting and Presentation: 7:30 p.m. in Room 116 of the Rooke Chemistry Building

Dinner: The dinner will be buffet style with one or more meat dishes as well as variety of sides such as mashed potatoes, salad, or a pasta dish. The cost will be between $15 and $20 per person. Please RSVP to Suellen Haddon at (570) 577-3258 or haddon@bucknell.edu by Friday, October 7, 2005.

See directions below.

NMR Characterization of Polymers

Knowledge of the structure/property relationships in multi-component polymers plays a critical role in the development of new products, manufacturing processes, and commercial applications for new materials. Undesirable properties such as poor thermal and hydrolytic stability can develop in the final product if reactive functional groups or contaminants remain in the polymer at the end of the manufacturing process. NMR is an exceptional tool for characterizing structural features of polymers. Using the information available from NMR, it is now possible to optimize the polymerization and post-polymerization processes in order to achieve very precise structure control, and therefore consistent properties in the products. ¹³C, ²⁹Si and ³¹P NMR techniques to characterize composition, co-monomer sequences, and end groups in polycarbonates and silicones will be presented. Specific applications to some commercial products will be described.

Dr. Elizabeth A. Williams joined GE Global Research in 1973 as a chemist in the nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy facility. In 1980 she was named manager of the Polymer Characterization Laboratory, a position she held for sixteen years while concurrently carrying out an active research program. In 1996 she returned to full time research. Her research interests are in the application of solution and solid-state NMR techniques to molecular structure determination. The primary emphasis of her work has been in ¹³C, ²⁹Si and ³¹P NMR applications to characterizing chain structure and end groups in polymers. In 2002 Liz was the recipient of Global Research's Coolidge Fellowship award for technical achievement. In 2005 she was named a Chief Technologist at GE Global Research.

Directions:

East of Lewisburg:

1. Route 80 West to Exit 210A
2. Route 15 South
3. Travel south to Lewisburg.
4. After passing the soccer fields on the right, turn left into the university and follow the campus map. (Look for the Bucknell Athletic Stadium on the left.)

West of Lewisburg:

1. Route 80 East to Exit 210A
2. Route 15 South
3. Travel south to Lewisburg.
4. After passing the soccer fields on the right, turn left into the university and follow the campus map. (Look for the Bucknell Athletic Stadium on the left.)

1. Routes 11&15 North
2. When Routes 11 & 15 split, stay on Route 15 (Tedd's Landing is on your right; KMart on your left)
3. Approx. 7 miles after Selinsgrove / Shamokin Dam, you'll come to a stop light. Bucknell is on your right. (Look for the Bucknell Athletic Stadium on right.)

1. Take route 15 south.
2. Once past route 80, continue south to Lewisburg.
3. After passing the soccer fields on the right, turn left into the university and follow the campus map. (Look for the Bucknell Athletic Stadium on the left.)

Once on campus: Follow the campus map to the visitor parking designated with a P (white on blue back-ground).
More parking information.
A parking map of Bucknell.