Degradable Polycarbonates from Polyhydroxy Natural Products

在这个由化学部高分子、超分子和纳米化学计划资助的项目中，德克萨斯农工大学的Karen L.Wooley将为开发来自可再生资源的聚合物材料设计合成策略，展示出强度、韧性和水解性的新组合，并分解为对生物有益或无害的副产品。该项目结合了多羟基天然产物作为单体构建块，以及常见工程材料中的碳酸盐作为纽带。水解降解会产生多羟基化合物和二氧化碳。将对两类天然单体D-葡萄糖和奎尼酸进行评估，以构建聚碳酸酯，每种单体都将分别水解为二氧化碳和糖或奎尼酸。物理、机械和稳定性性能将通过化学成分和结构进行调整，并受制备此类材料的合成方法的进步控制。更广泛的影响涉及(1)对具有化学和工程能力的下一代化学家进行多样化和广泛的教育、培训和招募，(2)发展合成聚合物化学，以及(3)创造有可能对社会产生积极影响的新材料。学生/博士后将接受挑战多羟基和碳水化合物体系的合成有机和聚合物化学方面的培训，他们将获得严格的物理化学和机械表征方面的专业知识，他们将接触到工程概念，他们将了解如何为重要的环境、生物医学和其他应用创造材料。这项工作将生产用于工程塑料的聚合物材料，这些材料来自自然来源，从而减少对石化产品的依赖，并随后降解为天然化合物，以促进生物和环境清理。这些材料的设计采用了来自大自然的工程型建筑材料(如纤维素、甲壳素等)。可降解、可再吸收和可回收的。最终，这些聚合物有可能取代普通塑料，并被开发用于高端医疗和整形外科设备应用。

In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Karen L. Wooley of Texas A&M University will design synthetic strategies for the development of polymer materials that originate from renewable resources, exhibit novel combinations of strength, toughness, and hydrolytic degradability, and undergo breakdown to biologically-beneficial or benign by-products. This project combines polyhydroxy natural products as the monomeric building blocks, and carbonates, found in common engineering materials, as the linkages. Hydrolytic degradation will produce the polyhydroxy compound plus carbon dioxide. Two classes of natural monomers, D-glucose and quinic acid, will be evaluated for the construction of polycarbonates, each of which will hydrolyze to carbon dioxide plus the saccharide or quinic acid, respectively. The physical, mechanical and stability properties will be tuned by the chemical compositions and structures, controlled by the advancement of synthetic methodologies by which to prepare such materials. The broader impacts involve (1) diverse and extensive education, training and recruiting of the next generation of chemists, who are capable in chemistry and engineering, (2) advances to synthetic polymer chemistry, and (3) the creation of novel materials that have the potential to positively impact society. Students/postdoctoral associates will be trained in synthetic organic and polymer chemistries of challenging polyhydroxy and carbohydrate-based systems, they will gain expertise in rigorous physicochemical and mechanical characterization, they will be exposed to engineering concepts, and they will gain an appreciation for the creation of materials for important environmental, biomedical and other applications.This work will produce polymer materials for use as engineering plastics that originate from natural sources, thereby reducing dependence on petrochemicals, and that later degrade into natural compounds, to promote biological and environmental clearance. These materials are designed with aspects of engineering-type construction materials from Nature (e.g. cellulose, chitin, etc.) that are degradable, resorbable and recyclable. Ultimately, these polymers could have the potential to replace common plastics and to be developed for high-end medical and orthopedic device applications.