Neil Dolinski is interested in making, breaking, and rearranging polymeric materials through dynamic covalent chemistries. His group manipulates the underlying thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of dynamic exchange reactions to prepare next-generation materials and to establish a more circular plastics economy.
The Dolinski group utilizes simple, scalable chemistries to prepare materials with tailorable properties. A central theme in the group is exploiting dynamic exchange reactions (controlling equilibrium, exchange rates, and stimuli response) to make intrinsically reprocessible materials. Current areas of interest include: developing new classes of tunable dynamic bonds, preparing materials from bio- / waste-derived building blocks, and engineering additives for improved plastic recycling.
Dolinski received his BS, summa cum laude, in Materials Science & Engineering from Rutgers University in 2013 and a PhD in Materials from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2019. Before joining Columbia University in 2024, he was a PME Soft Matter Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago.