Synthesis of polymeric materials derived from abundant natural feedstocks using non-toxic heavy metals

使用无毒重金属从丰富的天然原料合成聚合物材料

• 批准号: 2329453
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2329453
• 关键词: Synthesis; polymeric; materials; derived; abundant

Synthetic polymers are ubiquitous materials in the modern world. The vast majority are derived from petrochemical feedstocks and are unable to degrade in natural environments. It is estimated that by the end of 2015, 78% of all ever produced plastic waste was discarded in landfills or natural environment, whereas only 9% was recycled. The persistence of commodity polymers has resulted in severe land and marine pollution. A viable strategy to address this issue involves replacing petroleum based polymers with sustainable polymers derived from abundant natural feedstocks. Catalysis is key to enabling the transformation of natural resources into polymeric materials capable of competing with existing synthetic polymers in terms of both performance and cost. Suitable catalyst systems can improve the efficiency of synthetic processes and can tune polymer properties for target applications. This project falls within the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future theme. The project aims to develop novel catalysts featuring non toxic heavy metals (such as bismuth, indium and lanthanides) for the synthesis of sustainable polymers. The initial focus of this project is on bismuth, as one of the most environmentally-benign heavy metals. The developed systems will be tested as catalysts in a series of synthetic methods to produce sustainable polymers using natural feedstocks. One of these is the ring opening polymerisation of lactide monomers derived from starch-rich biomass. This produces poly(lactic acid), a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer that has already found applications in medicine, packaging and fibre technology. Currently, poly(lactic acid) is industrially produced in harsh conditions using a catalyst containing a toxic tin metal. The use of more environmentally benign catalyst systems is of great interest as a means of preventing toxic residues in final polymer products. Although catalysts containing heavy metals have been studied scarcely compared to lighter elements, they have shown potential for unique reaction pathways and enhanced activity. The developed catalyst systems will also be investigated for the conversion of carbon dioxide, a major environmental pollutant, into polycarbonate polymers. While a traditional synthesis of polycarbonates relies on hazardous petrochemical raw materials, carbon dioxide could be used to replace up to 50% of a polymer's mass, thereby offering an opportunity to both reduce the carbon footprint and turn an industrial waste into high value chemicals. The optimisation of new heavy metal based catalyst systems could broaden the scope of viable catalytic strategies used to produce sustainable polymers and afford new insights into rational polymerisation catalyst design.

合成聚合物是现代世界中普遍存在的材料。绝大多数源自石化原料，在自然环境中无法降解。据估计，到2015年底，在垃圾填埋场或自然环境中丢弃了所有产生的塑料废物的78％，而只有9％的回收率被回收。商品聚合物的持久性导致了严重的土地和海洋污染。解决此问题的可行策略涉及用来自丰富的天然原料的可持续聚合物代替基于石油的聚合物。催化是使自然资源转化为能够在性能和成本方面与现有合成聚合物竞争的聚合物材料的关键。合适的催化剂系统可以提高合成过程的效率，并可以调整目标应用的聚合物性能。该项目属于EPSRC制造未来主题。该项目旨在开发新型催化剂，这些催化剂以非毒性重金属（例如二抗，依赖性和灯笼）的合成为特征。该项目的最初重点是bismuth，作为最环保的重金属之一。开发的系统将通过一系列合成方法作为催化剂进行测试，以使用天然原料生产可持续的聚合物。其中之一是源自富含淀粉的生物量的乳酸单体的环开聚合。这会产生聚（乳酸），这是一种可生物降解和生物相容性的聚合物，已经在医学，包装和纤维技术中发现了应用。目前，聚（乳酸）使用含有有毒锡金属的催化剂在恶劣条件下产生。使用更环保的催化剂系统是防止最终聚合物产品中有毒残留物的一种手段。尽管与较轻的元素相比，几乎没有研究含有重金属的催化剂，但它们显示出具有独特反应途径和增强活性的潜力。还将研究开发的催化剂系统，以将二氧化碳（一种主要的环境污染物）转化为聚碳酸酯聚合物。虽然传统的聚碳酸酯合成依赖于危险的石化原材料，但二氧化碳可用于替换多达50％的聚合物质量，从而提供了减少碳足迹并将工业废物变成高价值化学物质的机会。新型重金属催化剂系统的优化可以扩大用于生产可持续聚合物的可行催化策略的范围，并为理性聚合催化​​剂设计提供新的见解。