Aaron Teator
- Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
Contact Info
1567 Irving Hill Road
LAWRENCE, KS 66045
Personal Links
Research —
Our research is focused on diversifying the types of structures accessible to us through controlled polymerization and in turn developing new, functional materials. We’re working on developing new polymerizations, new monomers, and new post-functionalization methods. We target applications in a multitude of areas ranging from sustainability, high-performance engineering materials, and biomedicine. Research in the Teator Lab includes components physical organic chemistry, small-molecule synthesis, polymer synthesis, and polymer physics. For more details, visit the Teator Research Lab website.
Selected Publications —
Wekasinghe, K.; Castillo, S. A.; Bemis, J. R.; Teator, A. J.* Keteniminium-Mediated Post-Polymerization Modification: Unlocking Emergent Properties in Polyacrylamides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 21302-21307. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c04964.
Zhu, H.; Jackson, T. A.; Teator, A. J.; Subramaniam, B.* Oxidative Functionalization of Solvent-Pretreated Polyethylene by Ozone. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2025, 13, 4988-4996. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c09279
Wekasinghe, K., Teator, A.J.* Porphyrins pave the way to precision polymers. Nat. Synth. 2023, 2, 811–812. DOI: 10.1038/s44160-023-00338-y.
Varner, T. P.; Teator, A. J.; Reddi, Y.; Jacky, P. E.; Cramer, C. J.; Leibfarth, F. A. Mechanistic Insight into the Stereoselective Cationic Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 17175. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c08254.
Teator, A. J.; Varner, T. P.; Jacky, P. E.; Sheyko, K. A.; Leibfarth, F. A. Polar Thermoplastics with Tunable Physical Properties Enabled by the Stereoselective Copolymerization of Vinyl Ethers. ACS Macro Lett. 2019, 8, 1559. DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.9b00802.
Teator, A. J. and Leibfarth, F. A. Catalyst-Controlled Stereoselective Polymerization of Vinyl Ethers. Science 2019, 363, 1439. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1703
Awards & Honors —
2025 - Sutton Family Research Impact Award
2025 - NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award
2022 - 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award
2020 - Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) Cottrell Fellowship
2019 - ACS Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Future Faculty Scholar
2019 - UNC Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence