Evaluation of two terpene-derived polymers as consolidants for archaeological wood (2023)
Journal Article
Cutajar, M., Braovac, S., Stockman, R. A., Howdle, S. M., & Harding, S. E. (2023). Evaluation of two terpene-derived polymers as consolidants for archaeological wood. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Article 3664. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29785-5

The evaluation of two terpene-derived polymers, termed TPA6 and TPA7, as possible consolidants for archaeological wood was carried out. The overall objective of this work was to expand the non-aqueous treatment toolkit which is available for the cons... Read More about Evaluation of two terpene-derived polymers as consolidants for archaeological wood.

Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis (2023)
Journal Article
Fowler, H. R., O'Brien, D. M., Keddie, D. J., Alexander, C., Irvine, D. J., Stockman, R. A., …Taresco, V. (2023). Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 224(8), Article 2200446. https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202200446

Polyols and polyacrylates have a wide range of applications in polymer synthesis as monomers, initiators, or building blocks in a variety of polymerization reaction types. With an ever-growing need to reduce the global dependency on fossil fuels, fin... Read More about Oxidation of Monoterpenes to Form Diols and Triols: A Versatile Toolbox for Polymer Synthesis.

Predictive Molecular Design and Structure–Property Validation of Novel Terpene-Based, Sustainably Sourced Bacterial Biofilm-Resistant Materials (2023)
Journal Article
Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., Ilchev, A., Moore, J. C., Fowler, H. R., Dubern, J., Sanni, O., …Irvine, D. J. (2023). Predictive Molecular Design and Structure–Property Validation of Novel Terpene-Based, Sustainably Sourced Bacterial Biofilm-Resistant Materials. Biomacromolecules, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.2c00721

Presented in this work is the use of a molecular descriptor, termed the α parameter, to aid in the design of a series of novel, terpene-based, and sustainable polymers that were resistant to biofilm formation by the model bacterial pathogen Pseudomon... Read More about Predictive Molecular Design and Structure–Property Validation of Novel Terpene-Based, Sustainably Sourced Bacterial Biofilm-Resistant Materials.

Comparative hydrodynamic characterisation of two hydroxylated polymers based on α-pinene- or oleic acid-derived monomers for potential use as archaeological consolidants (2022)
Journal Article
Cutajar, M., Machado, F., Cuzzucoli Crucitti, V., Braovac, S., Stockman, R. A., Howdle, S. M., & Harding, S. E. (2022). Comparative hydrodynamic characterisation of two hydroxylated polymers based on α-pinene- or oleic acid-derived monomers for potential use as archaeological consolidants. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 18411. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21027-4

The Oseberg Viking ship burial is one of the most extensive collections of Viking wooden artefacts ever excavated in Norway. In the early twentieth century, many of these artefacts were treated with alum in order to preserve them, inadvertently leadi... Read More about Comparative hydrodynamic characterisation of two hydroxylated polymers based on α-pinene- or oleic acid-derived monomers for potential use as archaeological consolidants.

Sustainable ABA triblock methacrylate copolymers incorporating both high and low Tg terpene-derived monomers (2022)
Journal Article
Atkinson, R. L., Elsmore, M., Smith, S., Reynolds-Green, M., Topham, P. D., Toolan, D. T., …Howdle, S. M. (2022). Sustainable ABA triblock methacrylate copolymers incorporating both high and low Tg terpene-derived monomers. European Polymer Journal, 179, Article 11567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2022.111567

We report the synthesis of novel terpene-based monomers: nopinyl acrylate and methacrylate, from naturally abundant ?-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
Monaghan, O. R., Skowron, S. T., Moore, J. C., Pin-Nó, M., Kortsen, K., Atkinson, R. L., …Howdle, S. M. (2022). A self-crosslinking monomer, α-pinene methacrylate: understanding and exploiting hydrogen abstraction. Polymer Chemistry, 13(39), 5557-5567. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2py00878e

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.

Computational investigation of aphid odorant receptor structure and binding function (2022)
Journal Article
Sims, C., Withall, D. M., Oldham, N., Stockman, R., & Birkett, M. (2023). Computational investigation of aphid odorant receptor structure and binding function. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, 41(8), 3647-3658 . https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2022.2053743

Odorant receptors (OR) play a critical role in signal transduction and olfactory recognition in insects. Unfortunately, insect ORs are difficult to express and purify, and limited structural data are available. Computational methods were used to pred... Read More about Computational investigation of aphid odorant receptor structure and binding function.

Comparative Hydrodynamic Study on Non-Aqueous Soluble Archaeological Wood Consolidants: Butvar B-98 and PDMS-OH Siloxanes (2022)
Journal Article
Cutajar, M., Stockman, R. A., Braovac, S., Steindal, C. C., Zisi, A., & Harding, S. E. (2022). Comparative Hydrodynamic Study on Non-Aqueous Soluble Archaeological Wood Consolidants: Butvar B-98 and PDMS-OH Siloxanes. Molecules, 27(7), Article 2133. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27072133

Butvar B-98 and PDMS-OH both have a demonstrable ability as consolidants for archaeological wood. This makes them both potential treatment options for the Oseberg collection, which is one of the most important archaeological finds from the Viking era... Read More about Comparative Hydrodynamic Study on Non-Aqueous Soluble Archaeological Wood Consolidants: Butvar B-98 and PDMS-OH Siloxanes.

Stereodivergent Total Syntheses of (+)‐Monomorine I and (+)‐Indolizidine 195B (2021)
Journal Article
Dawood, R. S., & Stockman, R. A. (2021). Stereodivergent Total Syntheses of (+)‐Monomorine I and (+)‐Indolizidine 195B. European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2021(27), 3850-3853. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202100453

A simple and efficient stereoselective total syntheses of two natural products (+)-monomorine I and (+)-indolizidine 195B in high yields starting from a readily available alcohol is described. The key step in this synthetic route exploits the judicio... Read More about Stereodivergent Total Syntheses of (+)‐Monomorine I and (+)‐Indolizidine 195B.

RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers (2021)
Journal Article
Atkinson, R. L., Monaghan, O., Elsmore, M. T., Topham, P. D., Toolan, D. T. W., Derry, M. J., …Howdle, S. M. (2021). RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers. Polymer Chemistry, 12(21), 3177-3189. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1py00326g

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.