monomers Archives

Mechanochemistry: A new route to sustainable polymer recycling

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Junpeng Wang investigates how mechanochemistry and chemical unlocking can be used in combination to prepare degradable polymers that are otherwise too challenging to synthesise using standard synthetic routes.

Plastics and rubbers are some of the most important materials in advanced societies, and hundreds of millions of tonnes are produced every year. Devising efficient and cost-effective ways to recycle these materials has become a crucial environmental concern. Although degradable plastic-based materials can be produced, their practical use is limited by their vulnerability under environmental stress. Professor Junpeng Wang and […]

Exiguobacterium degradation of polystyrene: Enlisting bacteria in the war against plastic

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Dr André Hudson and his team uncover the mechanism by which the bacteria genus Exiguobacterium degrades polystyrene.

Polystyrene is a chemically stable recalcitrant plastic that pollutes many natural environments. Unfortunately, few mechanisms can break down this man-made polymer into its naturally occurring components. Research into the polystyrene-digesting capabilities of the bacteria genus Exiguobacterium sp RIT 594 by Dr André Hudson and his team at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, USA, has uncovered the specific […]

High performing monomers and polymers from plant oils

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We often think of fossils fuels as a source of energy, but one of the key uses of fossil fuels is as a starting point for the synthesis of new chemical compounds. These range from plastics to pharmaceutical products. In recent years, there has been a push to move to more sustainable chemical feedstocks. Professor Andriy Voronov at North Dakota […]