Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
University Professor
- Pittsburgh PA UNITED STATES
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski is is one of the leading educators of polymer chemistry.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
Breaking down Plexiglas with light
Chemical & Engineering News online
2025-02-20
“I think it’s a really excellent paper” with the potential to inspire a lot of future research, says Krzysztof Matyjaszewski of Carnegie Mellon University, an expert in radical polymer chemistry who was not involved in the work. The reaction is somewhat slow, but the yield is high, the conditions are simple, and it works on colored plastic, which are all commercially relevant qualities, he adds.
Harnessing the building blocks of polymer recycling
Phys.org online
2022-11-01
An alternate route toward a more sustainable polymer industry is to increase the service lifetime of polymers. An intriguing new concept is to impart the ability to "self-heal" from structural damage. Michael Bockstaller, professor of materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, professor of chemistry, has discovered that the binding of copolymers on the surface of nanoparticles that are already used in industrial manufacturing provides an economic and scalable route toward self-healing polymers with increased strength and toughness.
Open-air performance for atom transfer radical polymerisation
Chemistry World online
2020-08-26
Researchers in the US have developed an atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) process that is fully tolerant of oxygen. It will remove the need for specialised equipment and allow users to perform ATRP in both water and organic solvents in an open reaction vessel.
In situ with Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
Chemistry World online
2020-01-17
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski is the JC Warner professor of the natural sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in the US. He developed atom transfer radical polymerisation in 1994, a method that is now in wide use throughout the world to control polymerisation. He was talking to Patrick Walter at Iupac’s 47th general assembly in Paris
Media
Industry Expertise
Accomplishments
National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences
2023
Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie
2021
Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry
2017
Medema Lecture Award (Polymer Technology Netherlands)
2017
International Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences
2015
Education
Polish Academy of Sciences
Ph.D.
Chemistry
Technical University of Moscow
M.S.
Chemistry
Technical University of Moscow
B.S.
Chemistry
Links
Articles
Electrochemically Mediated Depolymerization of Polymers Synthesized by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization
Journal of the American Chemical SocietyVictoria Lohmann, Lok Nga Poon, Richard Whitfield, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Victor Mougel, Athina Anastasaki
2026-03-04
The concept of electrochemically mediated depolymerization is introduced as a means to initiate and regulate depolymerization by efficiently switching between active and dormant species. During the chemical recycling of ATRP-synthesized polymers, high percentages of monomers are successfully regenerated by utilizing a readily available and inexpensive iron catalyst.
Oxygen‐Tolerant, Red Light‐Driven Controlled Synthesis of Easily Degradable and High Molecular Weight α‐Lipoic Acid‐Vinyl Copolymers
Angewandte Chemie International EditionIvan O Levkovsky, Lucca Trachsel, Hironobu Murata, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
2025-10-27
α‐Lipoic acid (LA) has recently emerged as an attractive, inexpensive monomer for synthesizing degradable polymers via ring‐opening of its 1,2‐dithiolane, introducing easily cleavable disulfide linkages into polymer backbones. Reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization with vinyl monomers enables access to degradable poly(disulfide)s with controlled molecular weights.
Near-infrared to visible photon upconversion with gold quantum rods and aqueous photo-driven polymerization
Journal of the American Chemical SocietyZhongyu Liu, Xiaolei Hu, Lianshun Luo, Guiying He, Abhrojyoti Mazumder, Ece Gunay, Yitong Wang, Elizabeth C Dickey, Linda A Peteanu, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Rongchao Jin
2025-07-28
Converting near-infrared (NIR) photons into visible light via triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) is a promising strategy for advancing energy, biomedical, and materials science. However, the development of efficient NIR sensitizers remains a major challenge. Here, we report an atomically precise gold quantum rod, Au42(PET)32 (PET = 2-phenylethanethiolate), as a high-performance photosensitizer for NIR-to-visible TTA-UC.
Tribochemically Controlled Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization Enabled by Contact Electrification
Angewandte Chemie International Edition2023
Traditional mechanochemically controlled reversible‐deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) utilizes ultrasound or ball milling to regenerate activators, which induce the side reactions because of the high‐energy and high‐frequency stimuli. Here, we proposed a facile approach for tribochemically controlled ATRP (tribo‐ATRP), relying on contact‐electro‐catalysis between titanium oxide (TiO2) particles and CuBr2/tris(2‐pyridylmethylamine (TPMA), without any high‐energy input. Under the friction induced by stirring, the titanium oxide particles were electrified, continuously reducing CuBr2/TPMA into CuBr/TPMA, thereby conversing alkyl halides into active radicals to start ATRP. In addition, the effect of friction on the reaction was elucidated by the theoretical simulation.
Oxygen Tolerance during Surface-Initiated Photo-ATRP: Tips and Tricks for Making Brushes under Environmental Conditions
ACS Macro Letters2023
Achieving tolerance toward oxygen during surface-initiated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (SI-RDRP) holds the potential to translate the fabrication of polymer brush-coatings into upscalable and technologically relevant processes for functionalizing materials. While focusing on surface-initiated photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-photoATRP), we demonstrate that a judicious tuning of the composition of reaction mixtures and the adjustment of the polymerization setup enable to maximize the compatibility of this grafting technique toward environmental conditions. Typically, the presence of O2 in the polymerization medium limits the attainable thickness of polymer brushes and causes the occurrence of “edge effects”, i.e., areas at the substrates’ edges where continuous oxygen diffusion from the surrounding environment inhibits brush growth.
Highly Conductive Polyoxanorbornene‐Based Polymer Electrolyte for Lithium‐Metal Batteries
Advanced Science2023
This present study illustrates the synthesis and preparation of polyoxanorbornene‐based bottlebrush polymers with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) side chains by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization for solid polymer electrolytes (SPE). In addition to the conductive PEO side chains, the polyoxanorbornene backbones may act as another ion conductor to further promote Li‐ion movement within the SPE matrix. These results suggest that these bottlebrush polymer electrolytes provide impressively high ionic conductivity of 7.12 × 10−4 S cm−1 at room temperature and excellent electrochemical performance, including high‐rate capabilities and cycling stability when paired with a Li metal anode and a LiFePO4 cathode.
Synthesis of Hairy Nanoparticles
Hairy Nanoparticles: From Synthesis to Applications2023
Hairy nanoparticles present a novel platform for the fabrication of hybrid materials with tailored structures and properties. The particular properties of hairy nanoparticles are enabled by the deliberate precision modification of nanoparticle surfaces with polymer chains. Methods based on surface‐initiated controlled radical polymerization (SI‐CRP) have become the most powerful synthetic tool to facilitate the synthesis of hairy nanoparticles. This chapter provides a comprehensive survey of the progress and recent advances in the synthesis of hairy nanoparticles by controlled radical polymerization (CRP) and their characterization.
Fast Bulk Depolymerization of Polymethacrylates by ATRP
ACS Macro Letters2023
Fast bulk depolymerization of poly(n-butyl methacrylate) and poly(methyl methacrylate), prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), is reported in the temperature range between 150 and 230 °C. Depolymerization of Cl-terminated polymethacrylates was catalyzed by a CuCl2/TPMA complex (0.022 or 0.22 equiv vs P-Cl) and was studied using TGA, also under isothermal conditions. Relatively rapid 5–20 min depolymerization was observed at 230 and 180 °C. The preparative scale reactions were carried out using a short-path distillation setup with up to 84% depolymerization within 15 min at 230 °C.