P3R team
Created in 2007, the “Precision polymers by radical processes” group (P3R) is composed of organic and polymer chemists who develop original polymer materials using radical chemistry.
P3R has a longstanding experience in reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerisation. This includes the study of the structure-reactivity relationship of original classes of RAFT agents, RAFT control of “tricky” monomers, and the synthesis of functional block copolymers with targeted properties.
In recent years, we made a clear shift in the way we design our polymers towards materials of enhanced sustainability. For instance, new methodologies for making (chemically) degradable polymers by radical ring-opening copolymerization have been successfully developed.
Another recent strategic area is the design of dynamic polymer materials, in particular nanostructured vitrimers and carbon-fiber reinforced vitrimer materials for the aerospace sector.
We attach particular attention to the exploitation of our research results through a large number of patent applications with some examples of commercial success in collaboration with industrial partners.
Research topics
Pushing back the boundaries of RAFT polymerisation
Radical polymerisation for degradable polymers
Dynamic polymer materials
Team members
permanent members
temporary members on average per year
Research engineer
Research engineer
Team publications
This list of publications is uploaded directly from the P3R team’s HAL collection.
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- Johanna Tran, Elise Guegain, Nada Ibrahim, Simon Harrisson, Julien Nicolas. Efficient synthesis of 2-methylene-4-phenyl-1,3-dioxolane, a cyclic ketene acetal for controlling the NMP of methyl methacrylate and conferring tunable degradability. Polymer Chemistry, 2016, 7 (26), pp.4427-4435. ⟨10.1039/C6PY00778C⟩. ⟨hal-02194464⟩
- Laurie Despax, Juliette Fitremann, Mathias Destarac, Simon Harrisson. Low concentration thermoresponsive hydrogels from readily accessible triblock copolymers. Polymer Chemistry, 2016, 7 (20), pp.3375-3377. ⟨10.1039/C6PY00499G⟩. ⟨hal-02195801⟩
- Laura Etchenausia, A.M. Rodrigues, Simon Harrisson, Elise Deniau-Lejeune, M. Save. RAFT Copolymerization of Vinyl Acetate and N-Vinylcaprolactam: Kinetics, Control, Copolymer Composition, and Thermoresponsive Self-Assembly. Macromolecules, 2016, 49 (18), pp.6799--6809. ⟨10.1021/acs.macromol.6b01451⟩. ⟨hal-01495405⟩
- H. Nguyen, M. El Ezzi, Christophe Mingotaud, Mathias Destarac, Jean-Daniel Marty, et al.. Doubly thermo-responsive copolymers in ionic liquid. Soft Matter, 2016, 12 (13), pp.3246-3251. ⟨10.1039/C5SM03063C⟩. ⟨hal-02195652⟩
- Jean-Noël Ollagnier, Thierry Tassaing, Simon Harrisson, Mathias Destarac. Application of online infrared spectroscopy to study the kinetics of precipitation polymerization of acrylic acid in supercritical carbon dioxide. Reaction Chemistry & Engineering, 2016, 1 (4), pp.372-378. ⟨10.1039/C6RE00022C⟩. ⟨hal-02195505⟩
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Latest team news
Théo Vialon, PhD student at Softmat, rewarded at the “Journées GFP Sud-Ouest 2025”
The “Journées GFP Sud-Ouest”, organised every year, took place in Guéthary on 27th & 28th of March. These meetings, which gather students and permanent staff from the laboratories of the...
Marc Guerre, researcher at Softmat, received the GFP Young Researcher Award 2024
At the end of November 2024, during the annual national symposium, the GFP Young Researcher 2024 Prize was awarded to Marc Guerre, a researcher in the P3R team. The Groupe Français d'Études et...
Solène Guggari, PhD student at Softmat, defended her thesis on biobased disulfide vitrimers for industrial applications
Solène carried out her research in the P3R team at the Softmat laboratory, in close collaboration with Specific Polymers company. On 22nd of November, she defended her thesis entitled: "Synthesis...