prof. dr hab. Stanisław Penczek

Dział Funkcjonalnych Polimerów i Materiałów Polimerowych

Telefon: (+48) (42) 68 03 224

Email:

Scientific career:

• 1934 – Born in Warsaw, Poland
• 1963 – PhD, Polymer Institute, Warsaw and Leningrad, USSR Acad. Sci.
• 1964-1968 – Industrial Polymer Institute, Head, Laboratory of Polymerization
• 1966/67 – Post-doctoral fellow, Syracuse, NY, USA, Prof. M.Szwarc
• 1968 – Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Lodz
• 1968-1974 – Head, Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry
• 1970 – Habilitation, Technical University of Lodz
• 1974 – Professor and Head, Dept. of Polymer Chemistry
• 1978-1988 – Chairman, Division of Kinetics, Polish Chemical Society
• 1988-1998 – Chairman, Polymer Division, Polish Chemical Society
• 1993 – Titular Professor of the French Academy of Sci.,
• 1993 – Directeur des Recherches, CNRS France
• 1997-2001 – Titular Member of IUPAC
• 1997-9 – President of the European Polymer Federation
• 1998 – Elected Member of the Polish Academy of Sci.
• 2000 – Chairman, World Polymer Congress IUPAC Macro 2000
• 2001 – Assoc. Member of IUPAC
• 2003 – Doctor honoris causa, University Curie, Paris
• 2003 – Honorary Professor of Jagiellonian University
• 2004 – Doctor honoris causa, Russian Academy of Sciences
• 2006 – Elected Member of IUPAC Bureau

Visiting Professorships:

• 1979 – CRM-CNRS Strasbourg
• 1980 – University of Mainz
• 1985/86 – Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
• 1987 – Kyoto University (grant of JAPS)
• 1989 – University of Ghent
• since 1992 – University P.M. Curie, Paris (Lecture courses on macromolecular chemistry at the Graduate Schools)
• 1999, 2001, 2005 – KTH Stockholm ((Lecture courses on macromolecular chemistry at the Graduate Schools)
• 2002 – RIKEN, Tokyo

Editorial Boards and Conference Activity:

Co-Editor in Chief:

• e-Polymers (the first fully electronic polymer journal)

Member of the Editorial Boards of International Polymer Journals, including:

• Biomacromolecules (ACS), Central European Journal of Chemistry, Coll. Czech. Chem Comm., Current Organic Chemistry (Editor for Polymer Chemistry); International Polymer Journal, Journal of Bioactive Polymers; Journal of Macromolecular Sci; Macromol.Chem.& Phys. (1978-2002); Progress in Polymer Sci; Journal of Polymer Sci; Polimery (Warsaw), Chemical News (1994-2001) (in Polish)
• Chairman (2) and Co-Chairman of (4) International Symposia (IUPAC) (including the World Polymer Congress)
• Invited Lecturer at 91 International Meetings

Major Awards:
Awards of the Polish Academy of Sci. (1974,1985,1988,1989); M.Sklodowska – Curie Prize (1990) (given to one chemist in Poland every second year); Personal Medal of the French Academy of Sci. (1993); Chevalier dans l’Ordre de Palmes Académiques (France, 1998) (given by the Prime Minister of France), Biannual International Award of the Belgian Polymer Group (2001), Eminent Professor of RIKEN ( State Institute of Chemistry and Physics), Japan (2001), International Award and Personal Medal of the Society Polymer Science, Japan.(2001), Otto Warburg Foundation Award of Germany (2002). National Award of the Prime Minister of Poland (2003). Joint P.M.Curie Prize of the French and Polish Chemical Societies (2004). J.Sniadecki Personal Medal of the Polish Chemical Society- the highest award of the Polish Chem. Soc. (2005)

Publications:
Over 300 printed contributions, including 8 monographs and textbooks, 15 chapters in books and monographs. 230 citations in 2004 (total citations: over ten thousand)

See complete list of publications: [Penczek_list_of_publications.pdf 250 kB]

Major Monographs:

1. Cationic Ring-Opening Polymerization, Vol. I, Springer 1980, pp. 176
2. Cationic Ring-Opening Polymerization, Vol. II, Springer 1985, pp. 317 (both volumes with P. Kubisa and K. Matyjaszewski)
3. Models of Biopolymers by Ring-Opening Polymerization, CRC Press, Florida, 1990; pp. 388
4. Proceedings of the World Polymer Congress IUPAC MACRO 2000 (with Z.Florjanczyk and S.Slomkowski)
5. Polymerization Processes and Polymer Materials, Vol.I, p.1-413; Vol.II, p.1-428 Macromolecular Symposia,.Wiley-VCH, 2001

Major Scientific Achievements:

1. Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Mechanisms of the Polymerization Processesa. Established identical reactivities of ions and ion-pairs in cationic ring-opening polymerization and explained this general phenomenon in time when the paradigm of higher reactivity of ions (free) was generally accepted. This observation is the most important mechanistic and kinetic feature of the cationic ROP.b. Discovered equilibrium between covalent and ionic species in polymerization and developed on this basis kinetic treatment of polymerizations with temporary (reversible) deactivation of active species. Gave the first in macromolecular chemistry kinetic treatment of the covalent species – ion-pairs interexchange by using the „temperature jump” kinetic technique. This conceptual approach of fast exchange between dormant and active species (observed also independently by Prof. Saegusa, mostly for oxazolines) has later been used for understanding mechanisms of vinyl cationic and free radical (so called „controlled”) polymerization as developed by K. Matyjaszewski , former Ph.D. student of Prof. Penczek.c. Developed general kinetic theory of the chain transfer to polymer with chain rupture and nomograms allowing (for the first time) determination of the ratio of rate constants of propagation to transfer from the dependence of polymer dispersity index on monomer conversion. This is a general treatment that is applicable to any polymerization. It was used to relate the selectivity parameter (kp/ktr ) to structure of active centres.d. Applied for the first time in macromolecular chemistry dynamic NMR for studies of the ultra fast reactions ( rate constants ~ 108 M s-1) of exchange between various ionic forms of active species .Established on this basis general mechanism of cyclic acetals polymerization (dismission of the ring expansion mechanism proposed by others)e. Developed novel catalytic systems (several patents) for cyclic acetals polymerization; on this basis large scale technology has been organized in Poland. Licenses have been sold to several countries.
2. Synthesis of new polymer structuresa. Discovered conditions of anionic copolymerization of elemental sulfur with cyclic sulphides, leading to stable, soluble products (up to 96% of sulfur content) .Paper published in NATURE.b. Developed of a new general method of synthesis of soluble, highly branched (star like) polymers by reaction of macromolecular alcohols with bicyclic compounds (e.g. diepoxides).c. First application of the highly efficient dihydrophilic, block copolymers, containing polyphosphates blocks, in controlled crystallization of inorganic compounds.d. First synthesis of high molar mass models of the bare chains of DNA and teichoic acids (TA – poly(glycerolphosphates) PGPH) by ring opening polymerization.e. Established specificity of interactions of PGPH with Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ (in cooperation with molecular biologists). PGPH were prepared either by ROP or by novel process of transesterification of H-dialkylphosphonates followed by oxidation.
   In this work the long time controversy in biosciences has been solved. Pure models of TA allowed establishing that (surprisingly) the apparently „larger” distance between phosphate groups (in 1,3 units) are specific for cation with smaller ionic radius. This stems from specific conformation of polyphosphate chains, established in these works.