Green Polymers from Sugars towards Polyethylene-Like Materials

Polymers are widespread in modern society as they produce light, strong, and cheap plastic materials, with an ever-increasing demand, which are critical to many technologies from consumer goods, electronics to healthcare. However, the environmental persistence and reliance on fossil resources of the most used polymers make them unsustainable. The chemical industry is facing the significant challenge of finding sustainable alternatives. One vision for sustainable polymers is that of materials, derived from renewable feedstocks, which can be manufactured with a low carbon footprint, and which exhibit multiple closed-loop life cycles (e.g., mechanical and chemical recycling, biodegradation). However, one major challenge is to obtain materials with adequate properties. Consequently, around 99% of polymers on the market today are still derived from oil. There is therefore an urgent need for the development of bio-based monomers for the polymer industry. 

In collaboration with SCG Chemicals and the research groups of Prof. Darren Dixon and Prof Charlotte Williams in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, this project will investigate the utilisation of abundant natural carbohydrate feedstocks to produce recyclable and degradable bio-based plastics, whose properties can compete with or complement those of polyolefins such as polyethylene, towards a circular economy of plastics with a low carbon footprint. We will specifically focus on building blocks derived from hemicellulose and which do not compete with food-crops (waste biomass). Our approach will involve the incorporation of sugar units into synthetic polymer backbones, to impart some of the desirable attributes of sugar feedstocks to the resulting materials: renewability, diversity, functionalisability, degradability, abundance and low price. 

Your research will involve all aspects of the development of sustainable polymers. You will develop new reactions for the synthesis of novel monomers from renewable feedstocks, design new polymerisation catalysts and processes (including studying their mechanism via kinetics and computational studies), exploit new polymer backbone editing and post-polymerisation functionalisation methodologies, and produce innovative polymers, with a focus on the discovery and elucidation of structure-performance of sugar-derived polymers towards excellent barrier properties (gas and moisture), in order to replace/complement polyolefins (polyethylene or ethylene vinyl alcohol), e.g., in packaging applications to prevent food spoilage. 

All polymers will be processed (including blended), shaped (e.g., via injection moulding) and their thermal, mechanical and barrier properties evaluated. Our academic-industry partnership will help design bio-derived polymers with better physical and chemical properties, together with a better overall life cycle sustainability, to provide more sustainable plastics to critical new technologies and applications. 

Supervisory Team:

Antoine Buchard (antoine.buchard@york.ac.uk), Darren Dixon and Charlotte Williams (Oxford) 

Useful links: 

Buchard research group: www.buchardgroup.org 

Key publications: 

1. Polymers from sugars and unsaturated fatty acids: ADMET polymerisation of monomers derived from D-xylose, D-mannose and castor oil. (Polym. Chem., 2020,11, 2681)
2. Xylose-Based Polyethers and Polyesters Via ADMET Polymerization toward Polyethylene-Like Materials. (ACS Appl. Polym. Mater., 2021, 3, 587)
3. Catalytic Reductive Functionalization of Tertiary Amides using Vaska’s Complex: Synthesis of Complex Tertiary Amine Building Blocks and Natural Products. (ACS Catal., 2020, 10, 8880)

Further information 

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Chemical Synthesis for a Healthy Planet (CSHP CDT) is a new EPSRC-funded centre focused on training the next generation of synthetic chemists, developing a sustainable, innovative chemistry culture that equips students to address major emerging and future global challenges in Human Health, Energy & Materials, and Food Security. 

We offer a fully-funded four year PhD programme, delivered jointly by the Universities of Oxford and York, comprised of taught courses and a substantive research project. Student cohorts will work together in a 4-month training period at both Oxford and York, before embarking on their main PhD projects. These substantive projects will be industry co-supervised, and based at either the Department of Chemistry in Oxford, or the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at York and the associated Department of Chemistry. 

This PhD project will primarily be based at the University of York.  

The first application deadline is 15th November 2024. We will continue to receive applications following this deadline, however some of the projects may be filled following the assessment of the first round of applications. We therefore encourage you to submit your application early to ensure that your first-choice project is available. A full list of CSHP CDT projects on offer for 2025 entry can be found here. 

All project partners recognise the importance of equal participation, progression and success for all. We strive to provide a working, learning, social and living environment that will enable all our staff and students to contribute fully, to flourish and to excel – a place where we can ALL be ourselves. 

The Department of Chemistry in York holds an Athena SWAN Gold Award, and is committed to supporting equality and diversity for all staff and students. The Department strives to provide a working environment which allows all staff and students to contribute fully, to flourish, and to excel; for more details, see: https://www.york.ac.uk/chemistry/ed/. In particular, we recognise the importance of the equal participation of women at all levels in a subject that has traditionally been male-dominated. We also particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented in science.