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

本项目的目标是进一步开发一种糖基分子胶凝剂，使其成为溢油回收和补救的油稠化剂。生物催化合成的低分子量相选择性胶凝剂在先进材料研究中具有重要意义。低分子量胶凝剂是环境持久性聚合物凝胶系统的替代品，是一类新的功能智能材料，其由于容易断裂的非共价力而组装。将精力集中在这些相对未开发的高度可调系统上有助于发展对固/液凝胶系统、材料中非共价力的效用和特性以及绿色合成方法的深刻理解。相选择性胶凝剂是低分子量胶凝剂的一个亚类，由于溶解性和物理封闭性，能够选择性地固化两种不混溶液相中的一种。这些胶凝因子中的大多数是偶然发现的，但需要继续尝试合理设计系统，以阐明结构-组装/活性关系，并允许系统地制定和理解这些分子。由可再生资源合成的低分子量胶凝剂连接了化学、工程和材料科学中的许多子学科，包括可持续设计和绿色化学。相选择性胶凝剂（PSG）作为油稠化剂具有广泛的应用。PSG是作为生物相容性材料开发的，用于回收海上溢油中的溢油，在概念上允许石油的回收，而目前使用的分散剂将异物溶解到海洋环境中。由于胶凝是一个物理过程，而不需要化学改变胶凝剂或油，PSG可以回收和重复使用。除溢油回收外，油增稠剂还可用于个人护理和食品工业以输送液体，或在食品中提供所需的质地或稠度。由于PSG可以通过可再生资源的低能量生物催化手段容易地合成，因此它们代表了一类功能性和可持续增值的智能材料。通过开发广泛使用的环境友好型产品，研究人员可以降低对合成化学品的依赖，同时减轻合成系统对环境的影响。

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.