Bio-based self-assembled polymers from renewable resources

来自可再生资源的生物基自组装聚合物

• 批准号: EP/W019175/1
• 负责人: Fiona Hatton
• 金额: $ 44.37万
• 依托单位: Loughborough University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW019175%2F1
• 关键词: Bio; based; self; assembled; polymers

Polymers are one of the most widely used materials in our day to day lives and are used in so many different products. Some of these are obvious like commodity plastics used in packaging, and other less so, for instance in electronics, cosmetics, drug delivery, nanomedicine to name a few. Polymers provide solutions to many problems, but environmental concerns exist about both the source of polymer starting materials and their waste management at end of life. Most synthetic polymers generated today are made from fossil fuels using petroleum-derived chemical feedstocks. However, petroleum is a finite resource estimated to be depleted within the next 50 years. Therefore, one of the key challenges with polymer production is to move towards renewable resources for their manufacture.For some applications precise control over the polymer architecture and composition is required and advanced polymer synthesis techniques can be used to achieve well-defined copolymer structures. Of interest here, block copolymers are polymers with distinct segments of differing composition. They can have interesting self-assembly behaviour when the blocks or segments have differing properties, with applications as adhesives, coatings, membranes, biomedical (e.g., drug delivery), lithography and nanoreactors. Due to advancements in polymer science in recent years, block copolymers are now being commercialised. However, these commercialised block copolymers are also derived from non-renewable petroleum feedstocks. Due to increased interest in block copolymers due to their interesting properties and use in value added application areas, and growing environmental concerns, the development of renewable block copolymers is an important challenge that this project will address.In this project we will prepare new polymers from renewable resources, with tuneable properties, which can be used in a range of applications including biomedical (i.e., drug delivery), paints, adhesives, and personal care products. By using starting materials derived from biomass, the polymers will be prepared from renewable resources. We will investigate using naturally occurring biopolymers, and vegetable oils to prepare new polymers. Through varying the vegetable oil and biopolymer starting materials and the structures of the copolymers, properties of the block copolymers will be varied allowing for potential use in a broad range of applications. Throughout the development of the new copolymers sustainability will be also considered when choosing which reaction conditions to use. In summary, this ambitious project will deliver new renewable block copolymers with well-defined structures using a combination of naturally occurring biopolymers and monomers extracted from renewable resources.

聚合物是我们日常生活中使用最广泛的材料之一，被用于许多不同的产品中。其中一些是显而易见的，比如用于包装的商品塑料，而另一些则不那么明显，例如电子产品、化妆品、药物输送、纳米药物等。聚合物为许多问题提供了解决方案，但环境问题存在于聚合物起始材料的来源和其使用寿命结束时的废物管理。今天产生的大多数合成聚合物都是由化石燃料和石油衍生的化学原料制成的。然而，石油是一种有限的资源，估计将在今后50年内耗尽。因此，聚合物生产的关键挑战之一是转向可再生资源。对于某些应用，需要精确控制聚合物的结构和组成，先进的聚合物合成技术可以用来实现良好定义的共聚物结构。这里感兴趣的是，嵌段共聚物是具有不同组成的不同段的聚合物。当块或段具有不同的性能时，它们可以具有有趣的自组装行为，可用于粘合剂，涂层，膜，生物医学（例如，药物输送），光刻和纳米反应器。由于近年来聚合物科学的进步，嵌段共聚物现在正在商业化。然而，这些商业化的嵌段共聚物也来自不可再生的石油原料。由于嵌段共聚物的有趣特性和在增值应用领域的应用，以及日益增长的环境问题，对可再生嵌段共聚物的开发是该项目将解决的一个重要挑战。在这个项目中，我们将从可再生资源中制备具有可调性能的新型聚合物，可用于一系列应用，包括生物医学（即药物输送），油漆，粘合剂和个人护理产品。通过使用来自生物质的起始材料，聚合物将从可再生资源中制备。我们将研究使用天然存在的生物聚合物和植物油来制备新的聚合物。通过改变植物油和生物聚合物的起始材料以及共聚物的结构，嵌段共聚物的性能将会发生变化，从而具有广泛的应用前景。在整个新共聚物的开发过程中，选择使用哪种反应条件时也要考虑可持续性。总之，这个雄心勃勃的项目将提供具有明确结构的新型可再生嵌段共聚物，该共聚物将使用天然存在的生物聚合物和从可再生资源中提取的单体相结合。