Degradable Polycarbonates from Polyhydroxy Natural Products

在这个由化学部门的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助的项目中，德克萨斯农工大学的Karen L. Wooley将设计合成策略，用于开发来自可再生资源的聚合物材料，这些材料具有强度、韧性和水解可降解性的新组合，并能分解成对生物有益或无害的副产品。该项目将多羟基天然产物作为单体构建模块，并将常见工程材料中的碳酸盐作为连接。水解降解将产生多羟基化合物和二氧化碳。两类天然单体，d -葡萄糖和奎宁酸，将被评估用于聚碳酸酯的构建，每一种都将水解成二氧化碳加糖或奎宁酸。其物理、机械和稳定性将由化学成分和结构来调节，由先进的合成方法来控制制备这种材料。更广泛的影响包括(1)多样化和广泛的教育，培训和招聘下一代化学家，他们有能力从事化学和工程，(2)合成聚合物化学的进步，(3)有可能对社会产生积极影响的新材料的创造。学生/博士后助理将在具有挑战性的多羟基和碳水化合物系统的合成有机和聚合物化学方面接受培训，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，他们将获得对重要环境，生物医学和其他应用的材料创造的赞赏。这项工作将生产用于工程塑料的聚合物材料，这些材料来源于天然来源，从而减少对石化产品的依赖，然后降解成天然化合物，以促进生物和环境的清除。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、几丁质等），可降解、可吸收和可回收。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骨科设备。

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.