Deep Eutectic Solvents: a green platform for advanced materials synthesis

Gabriel Luna Bárcenas he worked in University of Texas where he received a Ph.D. degree in 1997. In this year, he moved to the Princeton University for a Post-Doctoral stint with Prof. Pablo Gaston Debenedetti. At present, he is a full professor at the Department of materials of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, Queretaro. He is consultant Exxon Mobil Chemical Company, Baytown, Texas, since 2005. He has published more than 145 papers in refereed journals, 3 books, 3 book chapters and he has a patent. He is a member of National System of Researchers, current level 3. Achievements include first to First evidence of chain collapse near Lower Critical Solution Temperature; invention of High-pressure reactor; research in Novel hybrid natural-synthetic biomaterial for biomedical applications; design of Light-scattering detector for high-pressure experiments; research in High-pressure polymerization reactions. Your research interest is the synthesis and characterization of polysaccharides for biomedical applications, processing of biomaterials using supercritical fluids and the molecular simulation of polymers. He is president of the Polymer Society of Mexico and is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee Mexican Nanoscience & Nanotechnology theme network.

 

Gabriel Luna Bárcenas

Biomaterials Research Group, Materials Science, CINVESTAV Querétaro, Libramiento Norponiente No. 2000, Fracc. Real de Juriquilla, CP 76230, Querétaro, México.

Abstract

The increasing environmental awareness has led to the search of alternative reaction media to alleviate or completely eliminate organic solvents use. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs), a subclass of ionic liquids, have emerged as sustainable solvents for a plethora of chemical reactions. In this talk, DES utilization in free-radical polymerizations will be presented and discussed. Two main fields of application are reported. In the first section, monomers able to undergo free-radical polymerization while taking part of DES, as hydrogen bond donor or ammonium salt, so called DES monomers, are presented. In the second section, the role of DES as solvent where the polymerization takes place, either in the same phase or emulsion, is described. Finally, the properties of the polymers resulting from these particular methods of synthesis are discussed with emphasis on their green aspects and the formation of nanocomposites.