Parisa Mehrkhodavandi

Her work at MIT focused on the synthesis of cationic zirconium and hafnium complexes bearing arylated diamidopyridine ligands,[5] and the polymerization of 1-hexene with these catalysts.

She conducted a post-doctoral research stint at the California Institute of Technology working together with John E. Bercaw and Robert H. Grubbs.

This is being done in three main ways: the first of which is the use of Lewis acid metal centers with chiral ligand supports to open cyclic lactones via ring-opening polymerizations.

The final method utilizes an ethoxy-bridged dinuclear indium catalyst[14] that allows for the creation of diblock copolymers due to its high activity and selective control.

In recent works, Mehrkhodavandi writes about the role of the first alkoxide-bridged indium complex and the zinc analogues as important catalysts in the ring opening polymerization of lactides into polylactic acid.

Mehrkhodavandi is interested in developing catalysts that are highly active and enantioselective for the polymerization of lactide . Currently, catalysts for similar polymerizations must strike a balance between activity and enantioselectivity; the highly-active catalysts have poor enantioselectivity and vice versa.
Mehrkhodavandi’s research interests involve developing catalysts for ring-opening polymerizations. Ring-opening polymerizations involve opening up a ring-molecule via. nucleophillic attack to form a nucleophillic monomer , which can then continue the reaction to form a polymer . For different combinations of nucleophiles and rings, different catalysts are required.