Polymer chemist Eugene Chen receives national honor from American Chemical Society

Eugene Chen, the John K. Stille Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Colorado State University, has received a national honor from the American Chemical Society for scientific contributions of major significance to his field. The CSU Department of Chemistry faculty member is a recipient of the American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, which recognizes and encourages excellence in organic chemistry. Chen has been so honored for his accomplishments in organocatalysis and organic polymers, particularly for developing selective catalysts, new organocatalyic or metal-mediated reactions, and novel, sustainable polymers. A major theme of Chen’s research is creating waste-free, sustainable materials that can compete with conventional petroleum plastics. A recent publication in the journal Science describes one such polymer that has practical, plastic-like qualities but can be fully recycled back to its small-molecule state as a breakthrough in complete chemical recyclability. That polymer work was named “Research of the Year” for 2018 by Chemical and Engineering News.