The Hutchinson group collaborates extensively with academic researchers around the world, often involving student exchanges.

Prof. Michael Buback and the Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry Group at the University of Göttingen, Germany

Dr. Hutchinson's relationship with Michael Buback goes back over twenty years. The Buback group has invented most of the pulsed-laser polymerization (PLP) techniques used to study radical termination kinetics and have used PLP combined with EPR spectroscopy to elucidate midchain radical kinetics. We work together on the interpretation of these results, and capturing the findings in mechanistic models developed to simulate batch, semibatch and continuous polymerization processes. Dr. Hutchinson is a frequent visitor to Göttingen, including a six month stay as part of his 2006-07 sabbatical year. We have hosted Göttingen PhD students Nils Wittenberg (3 months in 2010) and Patrick Drawe (2 months in 2014) at Queen's, and our two groups have numerous joint publications.

Prof. Igor Lacík, Department for Biomaterials Research at the Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Bratislava)

Igor Lacík and his group are also long-time collaborators in the ongoing investigations of the polymerization kinetics of water-soluble monomers. The group has performed many of the PLP studies that has led to our new understanding of propagation kinetics in aqueous solution, and is renowned for their expertise in the aqueous phase size exclusion chromatography technique used to measure polymer molar mass distributions. Dr. Hutchinson spent three months in beautiful Bratislava as part of his 2013-14 sabbatical, and several students have spent summer conducting research at PISAS, including Calista Preusser (2013), Thomas Rooney (2015), Sharmaine Luk (2016), and Ikenna Ezenwajiaku (2017).  Dr. Anna Chornocová (PISAS) spent three months in Kingston in the fall of 2019 working with Maryam Agboluaje on in-situ NMR kinetic studies, and we hope that Maryam can pay a return visit to Bratislava in the summer of 2021.

Prof. Anatoly Nikitin, Institute on Laser and Information Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Anatoly Nikitin is a frequent collaborator on the modeling of radical polymerization kinetics and the elucidation of rate coefficients by detailed analysis of PLP experimental results. Currently collaborating from a distance, Nikitin has had several extended visits to Queen's, the latest being in 2009.

Dr. Enrique Saldívar Guerra, Centro De Investigación En Química Aplicada, Saltillo (Mexico)

The Hutchinson group was pleased to host Enrique Saldívar at Queen's for six months during his 2012 sabbatical. He and his research group are active in the polymer reaction engineering community, with a particular emphasis on reversible deactivation radical polymerization (controlled radical polymerization) systems. PhD student Iván Zapata-González also spent 8 months at Queen's in 2012-13, resulting in joint publications on the modeling of RDRP and the influence of RDRP reactions on copolymer composition. Dr. Zapata is now a CONACYT researcher in Tijuana, where his collaboration with the Hutchinson group continues.

Prof. Dagmar D'hooge, Laboratory for Chemical Technology, University of Ghent (Belgium)

Queen's PhD student Kevin Payne spent several months in 2012 working with Dagmar D'hooge and his group in Ghent on the study of ATRP polymerization systems, learning some of the group's sophisticated Monte-Carlo modeling techniques, leading to two joint publications. Dr. Paul Van Steenberge spent the summer of 2016 in Kingston applying MC techniques to the representation of cobalt-mediated radical copolymerization, including the distribution of functional groups among the polymer chains.

In addition to these collaborations that have involved the exchange of students, Dr. Hutchinson is appreciative of the opportunity to spend a portion of his 2013-14 sabbatical with the Polymer Reaction Engineering group at BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany), awith Prof. Jose R. Leiza, Director of POLYMAT at the University of the Basque Country (San Sebastian, Spain) and with Prof. Davide Moscatelli at the Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy). Three members of Moscatelli's group – PhD student Marco Dossi (2009), MSc student Raffaele Ferrari (2010), and PhD student Danilo Cuccato (2011) – each spent several months at Queen's to performs PLP experiments. The collaboration was extended to the study of polymers with biomedical applications, with Queen's PhD student Thomas Rooney under joint supervision and conducting research with the Moscatelli group in 2013-14.

Undergraduate Teaching

Dr. Hutchinson has taught a number of different undergraduate courses throughout his years at Queen's, including Chemical Processes and Systems (CHEE 221), Chemical Reaction Engineering (CHEE 321), Industrial Catalysis (CHEE 323), Technical Communications (CHEE 360), and Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Simulation (ENCH 346). He is currently teaching Industrial Catalysis (CHEE 323).

Undergraduate Research Supervision

Every year finds two or three 4th year undergraduate students doing research in the Hutchinson labs for an independent research project (CHEE 421 or ENCH 417). In addition, paid summer research positions are sometimes available.  A list of projects done in the lab over the last few years can be found here.

Graduate Teaching

Dr. Hutchinson has developed a graduate course on Polymer Reaction Engineering (CHEE 828), delivered annually. The course introduces the fundamentals of polymerization kinetics and develops the equations for calculation of polymerization rate and polymer quality measures. Process parameters which affect reaction rate, chain composition and molecular weight distribution are examined, and the design of polymer reactor systems is discussed. Consideration is also given to the problems of reactor design in heterophase polymerization.

For full details on the research projects summarized briefly below, please visit the Hutchinson Research Group Projects page.

Polymerization Kinetics and Reaction Engineering Projects

Dr. Hutchinson's research interests are in the areas of polymerization kinetics and polymer reaction engineering (PRE), focusing in the area of radical polymerization systems. The work combines the application of specialized techniques such as Pulsed-Laser Polymerization to measure kinetic rate coefficients, the formulation of detailed mechanistic models to represent polymerization kinetics, and the execution of targeted experimental studies under industrially-relevant process conditions to test and validate the models. The improved understanding of polymer processes leads to optimization of current industrial operations, reduces the environmental footprint for both energy and raw materials, and aids in the design of new processes and products. The efforts are motivated and sustained through close interactions with industry and other academic researchers both in Canada and internationally.

Radical Polymerization (RP) Fundamentals: Although focused on engineering applications, ongoing kinetic studies provide new knowledge of interest to the larger polymer chemistry community. The PLP (pulsed laser polymerization) setup is used to elucidate complex kinetics of copolymerization at high temperatures and propagation kinetics of novel monomer systems for new applications, including biomedical.

RP of Water Soluble Monomers: Water-soluble polymers are used for a wide range of applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, water treatment, and coatings industries. Funded by BASF (Germany), the research captures an improved understanding of the polymerization kinetics in computer models for aqueous phase homo- and copolymerizations of industrial interest.

RP for Acrylic Automotive Coatings: Acrylic resins, the base polymer for many automotive coatings, are now produced with lower solvent levels and at higher temperatures than before; the low viscosity material must have sufficient chemical functionality to further react on the surface to form a tough durable coating. Secondary reactions have a marked effect on rate and polymer structure under these conditions. Funded by Axalta Coating Systems (USA), the Hutchinson group is studying the polymerization kinetics of functional monomers and developing advanced techniques to model high temperature multi-monomer polymerizations, including copolymer composition distribution.

Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization (RDRP) Process Development: RDRP, also commonly known as controlled radical polymerization (CRP), techniques are capable of producing polymers with narrow molar-mass distributions and controlled polymer microstructure with potential high value applications. The new chemistries have great promise but some deficiencies must be overcome (residual catalyst; expensive reagents; lower polymerization rate; continuous production techniques) before it is industrially viable, the focus of our research efforts.

RP for New Product Development: The Hutchinson group has used their facilities and expertise in radical polymerization to develop (often collaboratively) novel processes and products, including superabsorbent hydrogels made from bio-sourced butyrolactone monomers, and hydrolytically-degradable cationic flocculants for improved water recovery from oil sands fluid fine tailings.

For full details on past and present Research Group members, please visit the Hutchinson Research Group page.

Current Research Group

Dr. Mingmin Zhang PDF (Jun 2019 - current)
Investigating Polysaccharide-Protein Conjugation: Characterization and Effects of Glycation Conditions

Dr. Amin Nasrefsahani PDF (Jun 2020 - current)
Accelerated Monte-Carlo Techniques for Modeling of Polymer Architecture

Derek Russell PhD (Sept 2018 - current, co-supervised by Louise Meunier)
Physicochemical Characteristics and Environmental Fate of a Hydrolytically Degradable Cationic Flocculant

Maryam Agboluaje PhD (promoted Jan 2019 - current)
Kinetic Coefficients and Models for Polymerization Processes: Co- and Terpolymerization Studies in Water,
Alcohols and Their Mixtures

Opeyemi Ajogbeje PhD (Sept 2020 - current)
Radical Polymerization Kinetics of Amino-functional Monomers

Morgan Cooze MSc (Jan 2020 - current)
Process Development for Cu(0)-Catalyzed Methacrylate Polymerization

Ibrahim Refai MSc (Jan 2020 - current)
Copolymerization KInetics in Water, Alcohol, and their Mixtures

Gagandeep Kaur MSc (May 2020 - current)
Semi-batch Radical Copolymerization in Water-Alcohol Mixtures

Elizabeth Bygott MSc (Sept 2020 - current)
Production and Reaction of Poly(acrylate) Macromonomers

Group members also include undergraduate student researchers and occasional visiting researchers from around the world (listed under Collaborations).

Life in the Lab

Lab Capabilities: Follow this link for a brief overview of equipment used in our research.

Conferences: Members of the research group attend conferences on a regular basis. To get an idea of the locations and scope of these meetings, look at the presentations listed on the individual web pages on the Hutchinson Research Group page.

Social Gatherings: Members of the group participate in intramural sports with other graduate students in the department. In addition, we have get-togethers two or three times a year at Dr. Hutchinson's home.

Industrial Interactions: Our research is funded from a combination of government and private sources, including NSERC, BASF, Axalta Coating Systems, and Nipsea Technologies. Many of the students interact directly with industrial researchers at sponsoring companies through regularly scheduled teleconference/web meetings, as well as company visits.