The objective of our research is to develop environmentally benign, cost and performance-competitive, sustainable synthetic polymers from natural feedstocks, in order to address the dependence on depleting fossil fuel resources of most polymers today.
In this talk, I will present my group’s efforts towards incorporating sugar units into synthetic polymer backbones. Natural sugars are an abundant and diverse resource that can be obtained from waste and non-edible crops. They are also non-toxic, biodegradable,
biocompatible and highly functionalisable, so that the polymer properties can be adjusted to meet specific material needs.
Specifically, this seminar will describe our work into:
- The synthesis of new monomer from sugars and interesting building blocks such as CO2, CS2, and fatty acids 1.
- Polymerisation catalysis, including the heterogeneous polymerisation of lactones 2.
- Using stereoselective strategies and post-polymerisation modification to control the properties of some novel polymers 3
References:
1 a) Macromolecules, 2016, 49, 7165-7169; b) Polym. Chem, 2017, 8, 1714-1721; c) Polym. Chem., 2017, 8, 2093-2104; d) Polym. Chem., 2018, 9, 1577-1582.
2 Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 5894-5904
3 J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 13301-13305
Speaker Biography:
Originally from France, Antoine obtained his PhD from the Ecole Polytechnique in 2009, investigating iminophosphorane metal complexes for homogeneous catalysis, under the supervision of Prof. Pascal Le Floch.
He then moved to the UK and worked at Imperial College London as a postdoctoral research assistant in the group of Prof. Charlotte K. Williams, in the area of CO2/epoxide copolymers and poly(lactic acid).
Antoine returned to France in 2011 and gained industrial R&D experience, working for Air Liquide on Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilisation (CCSU) projects.
In April 2013 Antoine began his independent research career at the University of Bath as a Whorrod Research Fellow. His main research interests deal with the development of novel polymers from renewable
feedstocks, in particular sugars, and their applications as sustainable materials, as well as innovative polymerisation catalysis and processes. In October 2017 Antoine was awarded a Royal Society University Research
Fellowship.
