I-Corps: Commercialization of a Phase-Selective Gelator for Oil Remediation

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The objective of this project is to further develop a sugar-based molecular gelator into an oil-thickening agent for spill recovery and remediation. Biocatalytically derived low molecular weight phase selective gelators are important in advanced materials research. An alternative to environmentally persistent polymeric gel systems, low molecular weight gelators are a new class of functional smart materials, which assemble due to easily broken non-covalent forces. Focusing efforts on these relatively unexplored highly tunable systems have helped to develop a strong understanding of solid/liquid gel systems, the utility and character of non-covalent forces in materials, and green synthetic methods. Phase selective gelators, a subgenre of low molecular weight gelators, are capable of selectively solidifying one of two immiscible liquid phases due to solubility properties and physical occlusion. Most of these gelators have been discovered serendipitously but continued attempts to rationally design systems are needed to elucidate the structure-assembly/activity relationships and allow for the systematic formulation and understanding of these molecules. Low molecular weight gelators synthesized from renewable resources bridge many sub disciplines in chemistry, engineering, and materials science including sustainable design and green chemistry. Phase Selective Gelators (PSGs) have a wide variety of applications as oil thickeners. Developed as biocompatible materials to recover spilled oil in offshore oil spills, PSGs conceptually allow for the oil's recovery while currently used dispersants solubilize the foreign matter into the marine environments. As gelation is a physical process, without chemically altering the gelator or oil, the PSG may be recycled and reused. In addition to oil spill recovery, oil thickeners may be used in personal care, and food industry to transport liquids, or to provide desirable texture or consistency in food. As PSGs can be easily synthesized through low energy biocatalytic means from renewable resources they represent a class of functional and sustainable value-added smart materials. By developing environmentally benign products for widespread use researchers can lower the dependence on synthetic chemicals while mitigating the effects of synthetic systems in the environment.