Polycat Lab

Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London

polycat_group.jpeg

Molecular Science

Research Hub (MSRH)

82 Wood Lane

W12 0BZ, London

Our group has a broad interest in polymerization catalysis, with a focus on sustainability.

We aim to make “better polymers” by developing new catalytic systems able, for example, to polymerize underexplored monomers, or to perform precise synthesis of well-defined (co)polymers.

Thus, our core expertise is in catalysis applied to polymer chemistry, including synthesis of ligands and metal complexes (early-TM, main group elements), application to ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and copolymerization (ROCOP), mechanistic studies using DFT as well as basic polymer characterization.

Our projects span all along the life cycle of plastics, from designing new monomers, investigating new catalysts as well as looking at polymers end-of-life.

For more details, don’t hesitate to look at our ongoing projects or to contact us. We are always happy to collaborate.

news

Oct 08, 2025 Last days for Thibault in the lab. Sad to see leaving. Thanks for your hard work, and good luck with your report and viva!
Oct 05, 2025 We have a new website! :sparkles:

selected publications

  1. Journal Article
    A pinch of silver salt to enable lactide ring-opening polymerisation at room temperature using Ti-salen complexes
    J. Koh, C. A. Baker, M. N. Diamantakis, and 2 more authors
    2025
  2. Journal Article
    Thermodynamics of Ring-Opening Polymerisation Informatics Collection (TROPIC): a database to enable polymer chemical recycling
    R. M. R. Reese, A. M. Ganose, and C. Romain
    2025