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Polymer Congress 2018 Polymer Sciences
ISSN: 2471-9935 Page 32
June 04-05, 2018
London, UK
4th Edition of International Conference on
Polymer Science and
Technology
Environmental and economic concerns, associated with
commodity petrol-based plastics production and disposal,
forced academy and industry to join efforts in the design of
easily applicable sustainable technologies. Greatest priorities
became methods avoiding the use of polluting and unsafe
volatile solvents; and allowing the facile replacement of the
petrol-based monomers by monomers issued from annually
renewable resources. With this respect, the polycondensation
– a step-growth polymerization attracted much attention.
Widely used in nature, where it builds the basis for the
biosynthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, and cellulose. In man-
made technology, the process plays an important role in the
synthesis of commodity polyesters and polyamides - versatile
classes of polymers covering applications from fibers to
high-performance polymers, thermoplastics and elastomers.
However, despite its “green” aspect, polycondensation is often
complicated by slow rate and side reactions, resulting in low
molecular weight and yield of the polycondensation polymer.
Moreover, the obtained polymers are limited in applications
because of the lack of functionalities. For overcoming these
problems, we have designed combined polycondensation
(to other synthetic procedures as chain-coupling or “click”
reactions; and/or have used (functional) comonomers for
tailoring the properties of the resulting copolyesters. In other
terms, such combined/copolycondensation can be used as
“green” method to sustainable plastics with applications from
reinforcing agents to dispersants and curable coatings.
Recent Publications
1. Mulder KF (2007) Innovation for sustainable
development: from environmental design to transition
management. Sustainability Science 2(2): 253-263.
2. Weissbach H, Pestka S (1977) Molecular mechanism
of protein biosynthesis. Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-12-
744250-1.
3. Mark HF, Bikales NM, Overberger CG, Menges G (1988)
Encyclopediaof Polymer ScienceandEngineering.Wiley-
Interscience: New York. DOI: 10.1002/aic.690340622.
4. Billiet L, Fournier D, Du Prez F (2009) Step-growth
polymerizationand ‘click’ chemistry:Theoldest polymers
rejuvenated. Polymer 50: 3877–3886.
5. Mincheva R, Raquez JM, Lison V, Duquesne E, Talon O,
Dubois P (2012) Stereocomplexes from biosourced
lactide/butylene succinate-based copolymers and
their role as crystallization accelerating agent.
Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics 213: 643-653.
Biography
Rosica Mincheva received her PhD degree in polymer chemistry from the
Laboratory of Bioactive Polymers, Institute of Polymers-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria.
In 2007 she moved to a postdoctoral stay in the University of Mons where
she is now an associate researcher. Her research is mainly focused on
biopolymers and biobased polymers covering synthesis and modification,
physicochemical and thermomechanical characterization, preparation of
micro- and nanostructured materials by different methods including melt
processing and electrospinning. A major point is the design of sustainable
and industrially applicable methods for polymer materials preparation and
modification. Her work is published in 36 peer-reviewed scientific publica-
tions (including 4 book chapters), more than 40 personal communications
at conferences, and is coinventor in 1 patent.
Combined/copolycondensation: Sustainable methods for
biobased polymers
Rosica Mincheva, Jean Marie Raquez and Philippe Dubois
University of Mons, Belgium
Rosica Mincheva et al., Polym Sci 2018, Volume 4
DOI: 10.4172/2471-9935-C2-011