We are pleased to announce that Kinga Ślusarczyk, a first-year student of Master’s degree studies of Chemical Technology at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Rzeszów University of Technology has qualified fot the finals of XIII edition of „Gold Medal in Chemistry” contest for the best bachelor or engineering thesis in chemistry held by the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the DuPont Company.
The aim of the contest is awarding the best young researchers for the best theses in chemistry and combining chemistry with other disciplines: physics, material science, biology and medicine. The finalists will present their works in the online session, from which the best will be awarded with the „Medal in Chemistry” and a prize money.
One of the finalists is Kinga Ślusarczyk, a member of the Chmielarz Research Group (https://pchmielarz.v.prz.edu.pl/en/group-members) and vice-secretary of the Student and Doctoral Scientific Society of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering IPSUM (https://ipsum.prz.edu.pl/). Awarded work entitled „Surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization in microliter scale” contained many key aspects increasing the possibility of employing ATRP method in a greater scale. One of them is decreasing the volume of solution from several dozen of mililiter to a several of microliters per cm2 of modified material, which was possible due to conducting the synthesis in room temperaturę and air conditions. This is by far one of the first works facilitating functionalization by ATRP methods without using nor inert atmosphere or costly chemical compounds removing air from reaction mixture, which was enabled by using 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), playing the dual role of monomer and reducing factor. Developed method both decreased the cost of material modification and reduces the amount of harmful waste produced in the process, especially considering the use of water – the most ecological solvent.
For more information about this competition, visit:
http://www.zlotymedalchemii.pl
