Dr. Charles McCormick
Dr. McCormick, his wife Kathi, and their son Charles L. McCormick, IV (Mac) continue to live at Lake Serene. At four-years old, Mac is an accomplished pianist and soccer player—according to his dad, and he is the apple of his mom’s eye. Dr. McCormick’s daughter, Lauri McDonald, and her husband, James, live in Dallas, Texas where she teaches high school chemistry. She is pursuing a graduate degree in chemistry at Southern Methodist University. His daughter Kelli Landrum, her husband Doug, and their son, Lane, live in Stringer, Mississippi where she teaches special education.

In the last couple of years, Dr. McCormick has continued to receive recognition for his contributions to the department and university. He has been honored with the Bennett Distinguished Research Professorship (1997-1999), Faculty Research Award – College of Science and Technology (2004), Grand Marshall Award (2004), and 2005 LETTERS Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is most proud of the more than 500 students he personally recruited and taught at Southern Miss who have subsequently graduated from our polymer science program. This number includes 40 Ph.D. and nearly 100 B.S. graduates who have conducted research under his direction. The superb quality and innovation of their work has gained international recognition for the group. To date, he has published over 200 manuscripts, received over $17 million in research funding, and has been cited nearly 1,200 times, a number that has grown exponentially over the past five years.

He serves on editorial boards for Macromolecules, Journal of Macromolecular Science, and Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (Korea), from 1980-1990, served on Polymer Science and Engineering editorial board. He has reviewed manuscripts for approximately 30 journals. His university service includes the University Committee on Tenure and Promotion; College of Science and Technology Advisory Committee; Departmental Governance Committee; Faculty Search Committees for provost, dean, and faculty members; three College Research Award Committees; Recruiting Coordinator for Polymer Science (25 years); and a past member of the Faculty Senate and Academic Council.

His current research, sponsored by the Department of Energy, Delsite Biotechnology, and MRSEC, focuses on water soluble, stimuli responsive polymers for enhanced oil recovery, pharmaceutical, and other biotechnological applications.

He dearly values the opportunities afforded him in his career. He has enjoyed participating in the initial development of our Polymer Science program and its subsequent growth and recognition, and looks forward to future challenges.

Current Research in McRG
by Charles McCormick
After thirty years of Polymer Science at Southern Miss, I am amazed at two things: how fast time passes when you’re having fun, and how innovative students can be when given the opportunity. School year 2006 has been no exception. McRG continues to discover new and exciting research areas in water-soluble polymers, controlled activity/delivery, and biopolymers. We are indeed fortunate to have students with undergraduate training in chemical or biochemical engineering, polymer process engineering, biochemistry, and analytical and synthetic chemistry. This has proved to be most significant over the past few years as research has become increasingly interdisciplinary. As such, we have steadily progressed toward developing external collaborations with other research groups in biochemistry, biology, pharmacy, and biomedical/biochemical engineering.

Less than 5 years ago, our group began a research effort with the objective of preparing stimuli-responsive water-soluble polymers with precise chemical structures and molecular weights. Our inspiration came from a literature report of a new polymerization method discovered by Rizzardo and coworkers (Australia) which had been applied mainly to conventional monomers. We immediately applied this technique known as Reversible Addition Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) to polymerization of water-soluble monomers. Subsequently, with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, our group reported the first controlled homo- and block copolymerizations of anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic monomers. The significance of this “breakthrough” became apparent when we were invited to give plenary lectures at several symposia, including the Australian Polymer Conference, and asked to submit a review of our work to Accounts of Chemical Research (Accounts of Chemical Research, 37, 5, 312-325, 2004). In 2005, this paper was chosen by the Japanese editorial board of Expected Materials for the Future, a prestigious national journal, for translation and republication.

Even as recently as ten years ago, I doubt that any scientist in our discipline could have predicted the advent of technology such as RAFT that would allow sequential addition of monomers to produce block and graft copolymers, stars, and other complex structures—at least certainly not in a controlled fashion, with free radical chemistry, and in water!

Some of the fundamental contributions to successful aqueous RAFT polymerization include: developing new chain transfer agents (CTAs) allowing synthesis directly in water, elucidating and eliminating those mechanisms leading to loss of control/”livingness” in aqueous media, assessing strategies based on kinetic studies for controlling polymer composition, and finally, developing size exclusion chromatography (SEC), multi-angle light scattering (MALLS), and other analytical procedures for polymer analysis in aqueous eluents.

I have chosen two examples of aqueous RAFT polymerization to illustrate the uniqueness, versatility, and potential of this technique. There are the in situ formation of metal nanoparticles grafted with electrosterically stabilized RAFT polymers and the formation of shell cross-lined micelles for drug delivery from ABC triblock copolymers.

In the first example (Scheme 1), metal colloids (Au, Ag, Pt) in aqueous solution were stabilized by in situ

reduction of dithioester terminated RAFT polymers. This procedure (first reported by our group JACS, 124(39), 11562-11563, 2002) allows grafting of a large number of polymer and copolymer types onto noble metals. We have demonstrated the ability to control structure and molecular weight of “corona” and “core” components and are currently examining applications in targeted delivery, medical imaging, catalysis, and layer-by-layer deposition of thin films.

Scheme 1

The second example (Scheme 2), is that of an ABC triblock copolymer that can be induced to form micelles in response to temperature change. Above the temperature necessary for micelle formation, drugs may be introduced and crosslinking of the appropriate block accomplished. The resulting crosslinked micelles then serve as drug delivery vehicles, activated by selling at body temperatures. This work has been accepted for publication in Macromolecules.

Scheme 2

Two other collaborative research programs of note have begun with Biochemistry and with Biological Sciences at Southern Miss. In the first, we have utilized RAFT chemistry to produce block copolymers containing a biocompatible stabilizing segment and a cationic segment which efficiently conjugate with RNA to form water-soluble inter-polymer complexes. These complexes are being investigated for utilization in the rapidly developing area of gene-splicing and specifically for anti-cancer pharmaceutics. In the second effort, we have developed biocompatible block polymers that reversibly gel in response to temperature changes. New developments in cell culturing may allow growth of epithelial, neural, and even “stem” cells in an unprecedented manner. Though great strides have been made by molecular biologists in tissue regeneration, this research is currently limited by the intractability of collagen and other currently used gel-forming biopolymers.

I close this brief description of research activities in our group with a “thumbs up” to all past and current students whom I have taught in the classroom or worked with in the laboratory and at group meetings and help sessions. My career has been and continues to be both challenging and rewarding. We look forward to your continued support of our educational mission at Southern Miss.

2005 MCRG

Postdoctoral Fellows

Yuting Li

McRG Ph.D Graduates

Michael Fevola 2003 Johnson & Johnson
Garrett Poe 2003 SRS Technologies
David Thomas 2003 MPT Polymers
Brent Summerlin 2003 Prof., Southern Methodist Univ.
Paul Stroud 2003 Delsite Technolgies
Michael Donovan 2002 General Electric
Martin Cowan 2001 Milliken Chemical
Geoffrey Smith 2001 Attorney at Law
R. Scott Armentrout 2000 Eastman Chemical
Gregory C. Martin 2000 Postdoctoral (Texas A&M)
Kathy Johnson 1999 VA Commonwealth Medical Sch.
Michael F. Richardson 1999 GenCorp
Johanna Kahalley 1998 DuPont
Shelia Williamson 1998 East Tennessee State
Eric Kathmann 1996 DuPont
Michael C. Kramer 1995 Radcure, UCB
Kelly Branham 1995 Kimberly-Clark
Chase J. Boudreaux 1995 Schering Plough
Pavneet S. Mumick 1993 National Starch and Chemical
Yihua Chang 1993 Nike Corp.
John Kent Newman 1993 U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Luis C. Salazar 1991 DSM Copolymer
Steve A. Ezzell 1990 3M Corporate Research
John C. Middleton 1990 Birmingham Polymers
Mark D. Clark 1990 Eastman Chemical
Tim R. Dawsey 1989 Eastman Chemical
Sarah E. Morgan 1988 General Electric
KiSoo Kim 1987 Tongyang Nylon (Korea)
C. Brent Johnson 1987 Exxon Chemical Corp.
Kenny P. Blackmon 1986 Fina Oil and Chemical
David L. Elliott 1986 Prof., Louisiana College
Charles E. Lundy 1986 Schering Plough Health Care
Peter A. Callais 1986 Elf Ato Chem
Brewer H. Hutchinson 1985 Huntsman Polymers
Ken W. Anderson 1983 Dow Chemical
Robert G. Chen 1983 Eastman Chemical
Lee S. Park 1982 Prof., Korean National Univ.
Porter H. Mitchell 1982 Valence Technologies
Michael M. Fooladi 1979 Physician (biomedical research)
James A. Pelezo 1979 Prof. North Harris Coll. (Houston)

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