Polymers under solvent-free reaction conditions were studied using high-speed ball milling, a technique in which reactants are added to a metal reaction vessel along with a small ball bearing. No solvent is added to the system. The vial is shaken at a high speed, and the ball causes smaller and smaller particle sizes of the reactants to form. These reactants then find each other on the molecular level and react. This system is unique because it does not require the use of solvent to facilitate a chemical reaction to occur. Solvents are the source of a vast amount of hazardous waste in the chemical industry, so avoiding their use is desirable from both an economic and safety standpoint.

In order to also minimize solvent use during product isolation, my research focused on using functionalized polymer resins. The use of these polymer resins allows for the design of systems where gravity filtration is the only isolation step needed, which is favorable over column chromatography since less solvent is needed and a safer solvent can be chosen. Wittig chemistry, oxidations, and Fischer esterification have been studied using this technique.

This project was also taken one step further by investigating the synthesis of these functionalized polymer resins. Chitosan was chosen as a biodegradable and inexpensive polymer backbone, and a method for easily attaching functional groups to this polymer was investigated.

Finally, synthesis of a polymer itself was also investigated under ball milling conditions. Several poly(2-oxazolines) were synthesized under ball milling conditions via cationic ring-opening polymerization.