Brady Worrell, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Denver, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Brady’s group works at the interface of synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and material science. We like making molecules, but we also like polymerizing em’ too. We particularly enjoy working with crosslinked photopolymers. Check out our group website to see what else we do.

Will Gutekunst, PhD

Assistant Professor, Georgia Tech, School of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Check out our group website to see what else we do.

In the summer of 2021, 3 old friends from grad school met in Frisco, Colorado for a much needed vacation. During this weekend away, Brady Worrell and Will Gutekunst (and Hans Renata too) did what they always do - eat too much, drink too much, and talk too much about chemistry. Will and Brady have similar backgrounds - they were synthetic organic chemists that had moved into synthetic polymer chemistry. One of the big topics that weekend was the difficulty they had finding good procedures for making simple polymers. Yes, they were out there, but sometimes it would take days or weeks to find what seemed like simple information. Even after you did find the procedure, many of the techniques were unclear or did not give sufficient detail to new-comers or those not trained in the art. Greatly inspired by the famous Organic Synthesis preps they shared, used, and talked about over the years, these two scientists decided to take matters in their own hands. PolySyn was founded.