With the joint support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry program in the Division of Chemistry and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Professor Aaron Teator of the University of Kansas will develop new polymerization methods with enhanced control over molecular structure. While current synthetic approaches have led to incredible high-performance materials, the available structure space is limited to monomers designed to undergo chain growth by shifting electrons through existing carbon-carbon double bonds. In this research, a through-space transfer of electrons facilitated by functional group migration will be used to control the growth of polymer chains. This will allow for precise control over the number of carbons in each repeat unit based on monomer design. Careful optimization of this approach, coupled with a thorough kinetic and mechanistic exploration will provide access to a new class of synthetic polymers. This proposal has the potential to deliver fundamental knowledge in multiple areas of chemistry, including small molecule reactivity, mechanistic analysis, and polymer methods development. The associated education plan complements and enhances the project by integrating chemical research with education and using societally relevant plastics to generate excitement about organic synthesis. This project will focus on the development of chain-growth polymerizations centered on anionic silyl migration as a key pr