Congratulations to Sarah who passed her Ph.D. viva on Wednesday morning!!

Polymer Synthesis/Degradable Biomaterials

Department of Chemistry

Synthesis of Functional Biodegradable Polymers for Biomaterials Application

This studentship is only open to UK nationals and those of equivalent status* (fees paid, plus £13,590 per annum stipend) or EU Nationals (fees only, no stipend) due to funding restrictions. The position is commence at a mutually convenient date after 1^st October 2012 and will last for 3 years. The successful applicant should possess a good degree in chemistry, chemical engineering or a related discipline.

The studentship is in the group of Dr Andrew Dove at the University of Warwick (group webpage: go.warwick.ac.uk/dovegroup) and will involve the synthesis of novel degradable polymers. The focus of the project will be to design elastomeric materials with controllable degradation rates and functional group incorporation. The project is part of a wider collaboration focused on spinal cord regeneration with Prof Andrew Whittaker at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Enquiries and informal applications should include a C.V. and be made as soon as possible to Dr Andrew Dove (a.p.dove@warwick.ac.uk).

For details of how to formally apply see: http://www.go.warwick.ac.uk/pgapply.

For more information about the department visit our website at http://www.chem.warwick.ac.uk.

*Please note - ELIGIBILITY - We can only offer the stipend to UK citizens or EU-citizens who have lived in the UK for over 3 years (e.g. as a student). EU-citizens not resident in the UK may not be paid a stipend, and only university course fees will be paid. Applicants from outside the EU are not eligible for this post due to restrictions on funding.

Warwick Chemistry will launch a brand new 1 year MSc course in Polymer Chemistry starting in October 2012.

For more details see:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/gstudy/polymchem/

The Dove Group (along with the O'Reilly Group) have moved to new lab space on the 4th floor of the £25 million 'Materials and Analytical Science' (MAS) building.

We are delighted to welcom Cathrin Kirchhoefer, Ruairi Brannigan and James Wilson who will all begin studyig for Ph.D.s in the group this autumn. It is also pleasing to welcome Dr Cecilia Ieong as a new post-doctoral researcher in the group.

Our latest paper looking into stereocomplexation of degradable polymers in the core of self-assembled block copolymer nanoparticles is reported in Soft Matter:

Stereocomplexation in novel degradable amphiphilic block copolymer micelles of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(benzyl α-malate).

Pounder, R. J.; Willcock, H.; Ieong, N. S.; O'Reilly, R. K.; Dove, A. P.

The ring-opening polymerization of 5-(S)-[(benzyloxycarbonyl)methyl]-1,3-dioxolane-2,4-dione (L-malOCA) and 5-(R)-[(benzyloxycarbonyl)methyl]-1,3-dioxolane-2,4-dione (D-malOCA) from poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, macroinitiators using 4-methoxypyridine as the catalyst is reported. The self-assembly of these polymeric amphiphiles was shown to proceed most efficiently by a solvent switch methodology from THF to nanopure H₂O. Variation of the block lengths revealed that, as expected, larger block copolymers led to increased micelle dimensions as determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and longer hydrophobic blocks led to increased micelle stabilities as determined by measurement of the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Furthermore, the self-assembly of equimolar mixtures of PEO-b-P(L-BMA) and PEO-b-P(D-BMA) resulted in micelles of increased sizes by both DLS and TEM analysis. These micelles also have a CMC value of 5.53 × 10⁻³ g L⁻¹ which is markedly lower than micelles formed from either enantiopure block copolymer (CMC values = 1.23 × 10⁻² g L⁻¹ and 9.78 × 10⁻³ g L⁻¹ for micelles formed from PEO-b-P(L-BMA) and PEO-b-P(D-BMA) respectively).

Soft Matter, DOI:10.1039/C1SM06164J.

The group are delighted to welcome Dr Vinh Troung to Warwick who has joined the group to work on a collaborative project in the area of chitosan-based hydrogels.

Additive-Free Clicking for Polymer Functionalization and Coupling by Tetrazine–Norbornene Chemistry

Claire F. Hansell, Pieter Espeel, Milan M. Stamenovic, Ian A. Barker, Andrew P. Dove, Filip E. Du Prez*, and Rachel K. O’Reilly*

Herein we report the use of a tetrazine-norbornene inverse electron demand Diels–Alder conjugation applied to polymer end-functionalization and polymer–polymer coupling. The reaction was found to be applicable to polymer–polymer coupling, as judged by SEC, DOSY NMR, and LCxSEC analyses, giving diblock copolymers by merely mixing the constituent homopolymers together under ambient conditions, using no catalyst, additive, or external stimulus.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13828 - 13831

Tetrazine-Norbornene Click Reactions to Functionalize Degradable Polymers Derived from Lactide

Ian A. Barker, Daniel J. Hall, Claire F. Hansell, Filip E. Du Prez, Rachel K. O'Reilly and Andrew P. Dove*

The post-polymerization modification of polymers derived from lactide is reported. Poly(lactide)s with norbornene groups both at the chain-end and along the backbone are shown to readily undergo reaction with tetrazines in a mild and efficient manner.

Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2011, 32, 1362 - 1366.

Synthesis and post-polymerization modification of maleimide-containing polymers by ‘thiol-ene’ click and Diels–Alder chemistries

Daniel J. Hall, Helene M. Van Den Berghe, Andrew P. Dove

This mini-review provides an introduction to the key work in the area of synthesis and post-polymerization functionalization of maleimide-functional polymers. The versatility and utility of the maleimide group in the efficient functionalization of polymers by both ‘thiol-ene’ Michael addition and Diels–Alder cycloaddition chemistries are highlighted.

See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pi.3121

Congratulations to Claire Dow, a previous MOAC miniproject student in the group, who recently won 2nd prize for her poster at the MOAC conference.

Sarah's work (performed in collaboration with Prof. Philippe Dubois' group in Mons Belgium) to synthesize and functionalize aliphatic poly(carbonate)s has been published as an ASAP article in Macromolecules.

See: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ma102882v

Collaborative work with Rachel O'Reilly's group to investigate the self-assembly of poly(lactide)-containing block copolymers has been published as an ASAP article in Chemical Science.

http://xlink.rsc.org/?doi=C0SC00596G

The work describes the polymer synthesis and utilizes crystallization-driven self-assembly to direct the selective formation of cylindrical nanoparticles. The work also shows that the growth of the micelles occurs in a living manner.

The Dove Group is looking for motivated enthustiastic individuals that are interested in studying for a PhD. Specifically we are looking for students interested in materials chemistry with biological applications. The project (entitled: Development of Mechanically Robust Chitosan-Based Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering) is available through the Life Sciences DTG.

For details see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesciencephd/phd_projects/

For project description see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesciencephd/phd_projects/andrew_dove/

Interested parties are advised to contact Andrew Dove by email (a.p.dove@warwick.ac.uk)

Matt and Robin's work on the synthesis of cyclic poly(lactide)s using a 'thiol-ene' click coupling method has been published as an ASAP on the macromolecules website - for the full article see:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ma101291v 

APD was presented with the Macro Group UK Young Researcher Medal for 2009 at the recent IUPAC World Polymer Congress recently held in Glasgow. APD was presented the award by Prof Dave Haddleton (outgoing MGUK chair) at the opening ceremony (pictured) and gave a talk about the groups research in the 'Young Polymer Scientists' Symposium that aimed to bring together and showcase some of the best young polymer-focused researchers.

Ryan's paper describing the ring-opening polymerization of a cyclic ester monomer derived from malic acid is now available as an ASAP articles on the Biomacromolecules website:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bm1004355