Dr. Markus Klapper
Markus Klapper studied chemistry at the University of Mainz and received his doctorate in 1990 from Prof. R. C. Schulz with a thesis on the synthesis and topochemical polymerization of aminodiacetylenes. Soon after, he moved to the MPI for Polymer Research and became project leader in the Department of Synthetic Chemistry. His research interests include new polycondensation and polymerization processes as well as polymer-analogous reactions for the synthesis of functional polymers and block copolymers. These materials have been specially developed for fuel cell applications or for hydrophobizing inorganic nanoparticles. In addition, in recent years he has concentrated on the polymerization of olefins in heterogeneous phase, for which he has developed new organic carriers and investigated their polymerization behavior. Another central topic is the development of non-aqueous emulsions suitable for the polymerization of water-sensitive monomers.
Research Interest
Modern polymer science must develop materials that are sustainable across their full life cycle while enabling energy-efficient industrial processes. We address these challenges through innovative synthetic strategies inspired by biological principles.
Central to the group’s vision is the concept that true sustainability requires new chemical principles, not incremental modification of existing plastics. In one approach of the pioneering research a light-triggered degradability is encoded directly into polymers using molecular photosensitizers. In a different project, in cooperation with Tanja Weil, we engineer ultrathin functional membranes inspired by biological compartmentalization, enabling ion sieving, molecular filtration, and bio-sensing with minimal energy input.