Prof. Marta E. G. Mosquera de l’Université d’Alcalà donnera une conférence intitulée « Earth abundant metal catalysts for the chemoselective synthesis of functionalized and biobased polymers. »
Résumé:
« The access to bioplastics from renewable resources with properties that match the fuel-based polymers is of great interest. In this context, one type of polymers that have attracted a good deal of attention are polyesters derived from cyclic esters such as lactide or caprolactone, since those monomers may be obtained from renewable sources and the polymers can be biodegradable, biocompatible and have a wide range of applications. One of our ongoing research areas is focused on the preparation of main group metal complexes as catalysts for the Ring Opening Polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters. Within main group metals, aluminum stands out as the most abundant metal on Earth crust and also has well known catalytic properties. As well alkali metals such as Na and K are particularly attractive not only for their abundance but also due to their low toxicity.
We have developed a series of homo and heterometallic aluminum and alkali metal based catalytic systems that are very active in catalytic ROP processes of rac-lactide and e-caprolactone and also monomers quite reluctant to polymerize such as b-butyrolactone. We have explored the influence of the presence of metals of different nature in the catalytic activity of the compounds developed. Our aim is to achieve the controlled synthesis of these biobased polymers to attain materials with advanced properties such as piezoelectricity. »