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Polyglycerol Adipate-Grafted Polycaprolactone Nanoparticles as Carriers for the Antimicrobial Compound Usnic Acid (2022)
Journal Article

Nanoparticle (NP) drug delivery systems are known to potentially enhance the efficacy of therapeutic agents. As for antimicrobial drugs, therapeutic solutions against drug-resistant microbes are urgently needed due to the worldwide antimicrobial resi... Read More about Polyglycerol Adipate-Grafted Polycaprolactone Nanoparticles as Carriers for the Antimicrobial Compound Usnic Acid.

N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under “greener” reaction conditions (2022)
Journal Article

N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide was used as a functional initiator for the enzymatic ring-opening polymerisation of ϵ-caprolactone and δ-valerolactone. N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide was found not to undergo self-reaction in the presence of Lipase B from Candid... Read More about N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under “greener” reaction conditions.

H2O2-Responsive Nanocarriers Prepared by RAFT-Mediated Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly of N-(2-(Methylthio)ethyl)acrylamide for Biomedical Applications (2022)
Journal Article

H2O2-sensitive block copolymer nanoparticles (NPs) composed of a hydrophilic macro-chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) and a hydrophobic thioether-bearing block were prepared by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) approach. The PISA process firs... Read More about H2O2-Responsive Nanocarriers Prepared by RAFT-Mediated Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly of N-(2-(Methylthio)ethyl)acrylamide for Biomedical Applications.

Sustainable ABA triblock methacrylate copolymers incorporating both high and low Tg terpene-derived monomers (2022)
Journal Article

We report the synthesis of novel terpene-based monomers: nopinyl acrylate and methacrylate, from naturally abundant β-pinene. A very high Tg value was observed for poly(nopinyl methacrylate) when synthesised by free radical polymerisation, and well-d... Read More about Sustainable ABA triblock methacrylate copolymers incorporating both high and low Tg terpene-derived monomers.

A self-crosslinking monomer, α-pinene methacrylate: understanding and exploiting hydrogen abstraction (2022)
Journal Article

Crosslinking is a valuable route to creating new polymeric materials and normally involves introduction of a cross linker or some form of secondary processing. Here we report the discovery and analysis of a self-crosslinking sustainable terpene deriv... Read More about A self-crosslinking monomer, α-pinene methacrylate: understanding and exploiting hydrogen abstraction.

Antimicrobial ‘inks’ for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2 (2022)
Journal Article

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) are widely exploited for their effective antimicrobial activity against a range of pathogens. Their high efficacy in this regard has seen the global demand for AgNP in consumer products steadily increase in recent years, n... Read More about Antimicrobial ‘inks’ for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2.

Exploiting the tuneable density of scCO2 to improve particle size control for dispersion polymerisations in the presence of poly(dimethyl siloxane) stabilisers (2022)
Journal Article

The dispersion polymerisation of methyl methacrylate (MMA) is a widely employed method for producing discrete, spherical PMMA particles from traditional solvents, which cover a broad particle size range. With environmental impact becoming an ever mor... Read More about Exploiting the tuneable density of scCO2 to improve particle size control for dispersion polymerisations in the presence of poly(dimethyl siloxane) stabilisers.

Synthesis, characterisation and evaluation of hyperbranched N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamides for transport and delivery in pancreatic cell lines in vitro and in vivo (2022)
Journal Article

Hyperbranched polymers have many promising features for drug delivery, owing to their ease of synthesis, multiple functional group content, and potential for high drug loading with retention of solubility. Here we prepared hyperbranched N-(2-hydroxyp... Read More about Synthesis, characterisation and evaluation of hyperbranched N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamides for transport and delivery in pancreatic cell lines in vitro and in vivo.

Greener extraction-chemical modification-polymerization pipeline of vernolic acid from Ethiopian ironweed plant (2022)
Journal Article

Epoxidized oils are commonly used in the plastics industry as additives in the formulation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and as monomers in the coating industry. They are produced from petrochemical feedstocks or by chemical epoxidation of natural oils... Read More about Greener extraction-chemical modification-polymerization pipeline of vernolic acid from Ethiopian ironweed plant.

Green enzymatic synthesis and processing of poly (cis-9,10-epoxy-18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) (2021)
Journal Article

There is significant potential for industrial use of renewables for a wide range of materials demanded by society. Plants, trees and algae are increasingly attracting attention as sustainable sources for functionalised and polymerizable building bloc... Read More about Green enzymatic synthesis and processing of poly (cis-9,10-epoxy-18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2).

Generation and Characterization of a Library of Novel Biologically Active Functional Surfactants (Surfmers) Using Combined High-Throughput Methods (2021)
Journal Article

We report the first successful combination of three distinct high-throughput techniques to deliver the accelerated design, synthesis, and property screening of a library of novel, bio-instructive, polymeric, comb-graft surfactants. These three-dimens... Read More about Generation and Characterization of a Library of Novel Biologically Active Functional Surfactants (Surfmers) Using Combined High-Throughput Methods.

Poly (glycerol adipate) (PGA) backbone modifications with a library of functional diols: Chemical and physical effects (2021)
Journal Article

Enzymatically synthesised poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) has shown a palette of key desirable properties required for a biomaterial to be considered a ‘versatile polymeric tool’ in the field of drug delivery. PGA and its variations can self-assemble in... Read More about Poly (glycerol adipate) (PGA) backbone modifications with a library of functional diols: Chemical and physical effects.

Functionalisable Epoxy-rich Electrospun Fibres Based on Renewable Terpene for Multi-Purpose Applications (2021)
Journal Article

New bio-based polymers capable of either outperforming fossil-based alternatives or possessing new properties and functionalities are of relevant interest in the framework of the circular economy. In this work, a novel bio-based polycarvone acrylate... Read More about Functionalisable Epoxy-rich Electrospun Fibres Based on Renewable Terpene for Multi-Purpose Applications.

RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers (2021)
Journal Article

Terpenes are ideal candidates for sustainable polymer feedstocks, due to their natural abundance and availability from existing waste streams. Previously, we have shown that a range of terpene(meth)acrylate monomers can be synthesised from the most c... Read More about RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers.

Synthesis of water-soluble surfactants using catalysed condensation polymerisation in green reaction media (2021)
Journal Article

Sustainable and biobased surfactants are required for a wide range of everyday applications. Key drivers are cost, activity and efficiency of production. Polycondensation is an excellent route to build surfactant chains from bio-sourced monomers, but... Read More about Synthesis of water-soluble surfactants using catalysed condensation polymerisation in green reaction media.

Porous hollow TiO2 microparticles for photocatalysis: exploiting novel ABC triblock terpolymer templates synthesised in supercritical CO2 (2021)
Journal Article

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) mediated dispersion polymerisation in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) is an efficient and green method for synthesising block copolymer microparticles with internal nanostructures. Here we... Read More about Porous hollow TiO2 microparticles for photocatalysis: exploiting novel ABC triblock terpolymer templates synthesised in supercritical CO2.