Melvin Renggli

Mr. Melvin Renggli

ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

3Years (2024-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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2 April 2024 in Polymers
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MDMarco Francesco D'Elia
Marco Francesco D'Elia
YYYingying Yu
Yingying Yu
MRMelvin Renggli
Melvin Renggli
MEMadeleine Anna Ehweiner
Madeleine Anna Ehweiner
CVCarina Vidovic
Carina Vidovic
Walter CaseriWalter Caseri
Walter Caseri
Poly(phenylene methylene) (PPM) is a multifunctional polymer that is also active as an anticorrosion fluorescent coating material. Although this polymer was synthesized already more than 100 years ago, a versatile synthetic route to obtain soluble high molar mass polymers based on PPM has yet to be achieved. In this article, the influence of bifunctional bis-chloromethyl durene (BCMD) as a branching agent in the synthesis of PPM is reported. The progress of the reaction was followed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and NMR analysis. PPM-based copolymers with the highest molar mass reported so far for this class of materials (up to Mn of 205,300 g mol−1) were isolated. The versatile approach of using BCMD was confirmed by employing different catalysts. Interestingly, thermal and optical characterization established that the branching process does not affect the thermoplastic behavior and the fluorescence of the material, thus opening up PPM-based compounds with high molar mass for applications.