WOW Project Review Weds 21 st Apr Dr Stuart Coles Chemistry / WMG

Introduction Potential breakdown products –Commercially available –Synthetic routes Model breakdown products –Functionalisation –Polymerisation Summary 2

Synthesis

Obtained commercially from Apin Chemicals.

Synthesis of 3

Synthesis of 4

Products from Extractions Conversion of ‘model feedstocks’ into polymeric materials Two initial materials were identified

Direct Polymerisation Vanillyl alcohol reacted with with three different diisocyanates 8

Direct Polymerisation Product looks like this (example shown with TDI) : However – poor solubility of product prevents complete characterisation –Standard techniques for characterising polymers include NMR, GPC & MALDI all require solutions Elemental analysis shows polymers do not have expected composition

IR

TGA & DSC TGA traces of polymers DSC trace of TDI-based polymer

Direct Polymerisation Current work focusing on making prepolymers to determine structure

Functionalisation Chrysin was functionalised with a methacrylate group and subsequently polymerised. Polymer characterised by GPC –M w = 45,024; M n = 7,249; PDi = 6.21

Summary Two of four target compounds have been purchased One target compound has been synthesised Investigation towards polymers from breakdown products remains ongoing with a view to publication 14