Symposium Sessions

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

This symposium will broadly cover current and emerging green chemistry approaches for sustainable polymer materials. The first part of the symposium will focus on sustainable processes and green chemistries for the synthesis of polymer materials and the second part will focus on the design and applications of degradable polymer materials including both hydrolytic and self-immolative polymers. The first part of this symposium will focus on emerging green chemistries for synthetic polymer materials (“green polymers”). A key focus will be on alternative chemistries towards green polymers from less toxic precursors (such as non-isocyanate based polyurethanes). The symposium will focus on the significant developments of innovative green synthesis strategies for polymer materials (e.g. non-isocyanate polyurethanes or polycarbonates), their material performances in key applications such as coatings and hydrogels, and emerging green processing methods including foaming or 3D printing processes. Key is facilitating a rapid transition from basic science to practical deployment fitting the broad range of polymer materials applications. Degradable polymers should include both hydrolytic materials (e.g., poly(phospho)esters, polycarbonates,…) and self-immolative materials (e.g. polythiocarbamates, polythiocarbonates, polyacetals,...). Symposium contributions should address obstacles confronting the development of practical applications from emerging materials. Discussion of synthesis and processing routes; methods to improve properties important for applications; and discussions that advance understanding of fundamental material science issues, especially degradation process and mechanism, are also welcomed. As plastics constitute a strong environmental concern, essential alternative materials are highly desirable. Breakthrough research to achieve applications requirements with degradable materials should be highlighted. This symposium will provide state of the art research on hydrolytically degradable and self-immolative polymer materials for various applications, bringing together scientists and engineers from various disciplines. Opportunities will be identified in the areas of packaging, coatings, cosmetics and medicine. To enable degradable materials, key is materials development and therefore the focus of the symposium is identifying materials for each application that need to exhibit appropriate degradation within required rate ranges and conditions. For instance, in food packaging, materials have to be able to protect the food during storage and then degrade in industrial or home composts conditions, in cosmetics and pharmaceutical formulations, materials have to release encapsulated active ingredients once applied on the skin or absorbed in the body by their controlled degradation rate. Life-cycle assessment of these materials will be another aspect discussed at the symposium. Abstracts will be solicited to cover the different areas of applications.

Topics will include:

• Novel green synthesis routes towards green polymers (e.g. NIPUs, polycarbonates) (water borne formulations,…)
• Polymers from renewable plant-based raw materials
• Design of green polymers for rapidly developing processing technologies (eg 3D printing)
• UV-curable green-polymers floorings and coatings
• Green-polymers or degradable polymers networks and hydrogels
• Design of green-polymer and degradable polymer hybrids
• Sustainable chemical foaming processes
• Hydrolytically degradable polymers—new materials and applications
• Synthesis of self-immolative polymer materials
• Strategies to control polymers degradation / depolymerization rate
• Mechanistic studies of the polymer degradation / depolymerization processes
• Application of degradable / self-immolative polymers in sensing devices, microcapsules, and nanoscale assemblies such as micelles and vesicles
• Material life-cycle analysis

Invited Speakers:

• Sylvain Caillol (Université de Montpellier, France)
• Christophe Detrembleur (Université de Liège, Belgium)
• Andrew Dove (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
• Elizabeth Gillies (Western University, Canada)
• Masami Kamigaito (Nagoya University, Japan)
• Arjan W Kleij (Institut Català d'Investigació Química, Spain)
• Luc Leemans (DSM, Netherlands)
• Xiao-Bing Lu (Dalian Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
• Thomas Schaub (BASF, Germany)
• Andreas Taden (Henkel AG & Co., Germany)
• John Torkelson (Northwestern University, USA)

Symposium Organizers