Bio-based self-assembled polymers from renewable resources

聚合物是我们日常生活中使用最广泛的材料之一，用于许多不同的产品。其中一些是显而易见的，如用于包装的商品塑料，其他则不那么明显，例如电子产品，化妆品，药物输送，纳米医学等。聚合物为许多问题提供了解决方案，但在聚合物起始材料的来源及其寿命结束时的废物管理方面存在环境问题。今天产生的大多数合成聚合物是由化石燃料使用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以供其使用。对于某些应用，需要精确控制聚合物结构和组成，并且可以使用先进的聚合物合成技术来实现明确的共聚物结构。这里感兴趣的是，嵌段共聚物是具有不同组成的不同链段的聚合物。当嵌段或片段具有不同的性质时，它们可以具有有趣的自组装行为，其应用为粘合剂、涂料、膜、生物医学（例如，药物递送）、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衍生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用途以及日益增长的环境问题，对嵌段共聚物的兴趣日益增加，可再生嵌段共聚物的开发是本项目将解决的一个重要挑战。在本项目中，我们将从可再生资源制备具有可调特性的新型聚合物，其可用于一系列应用，包括生物医学（即，药物递送）、油漆、粘合剂和个人护理产品。通过使用源自生物质的起始材料，聚合物将由可再生资源制备。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起始材料以及共聚物的结构，嵌段共聚物的性质将改变，从而允许在广泛的应用中的潜在用途。在整个新共聚物的开发过程中，当选择使用哪种反应条件时，也将考虑可持续性。总之，这个雄心勃勃的项目将提供新的可再生嵌段共聚物，其结构明确，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的组合。

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.