Bio-based block copolymers from renewable resources

Modern society is heavily dependent on the ubiquitous use of plastics, often derived from non-renewable petroleum feedstocks. Due to growing environmental concerns surrounding plastic waste pollution and recycling problems, it is becoming more important to utilise sustainable resources wherever possible. Ideally, materials should be prepared via methods that align with "green" chemistry concepts, i.e. less hazardous syntheses, enhanced energy efficiency, greater atom efficiency, derived from renewable resources and be degradable. One approach has been to use starting compounds derived from biomass.

Block copolymers have become ubiquitous in the field of polymer science due to advances in 'living' and controlled polymerisation techniques over the last few decades. Due to their amphiphilic nature, block copolymers readily self-organize at nanometer scales and have found a plethora of applications ranging from biomedical to catalysts to microelectronics.


The aim of this work is to prepare bio-based diblock copolymers and study their self-assembly behaviour in solution and the bio-based diblock copolymers will be investigated for their potential applications.