6^th World Congress on Biopolymers September 7-9, 2017 Paris, France

Nancy Quaranta obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the National University of South (UNS-Argentina). She is a researcher of the Scientific Research Commission of Buenos Aires Province. She is the head of Environmental Studies Group and Materials Program Coordinator at the National Technological University. Her current research fields are materials and environmental sciences. She is author of numerous publications and presentations at intern ational congresses. In the last years, her work has been oriented to the study and valorisation of industrial wastes, in particular residual biomasses of the agroindustry

Olive stones is a waste that had been widely used as biofuel in diverse industries and as heating in homes, hotels and municipal facilities. The crushed olive pit is also used as an adsorbent after being converted to active carbon by increasing its specific surface area. This material, in the form of powder or granular, has various applications as a\r\n \r\n\r\n300\r\n\r\n200\r\n\r\n100\r\n\r\n0\r\n\r\n-100\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n324\r\n\r\n343\r\n \r\n\r\n484\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nolive stone\r\n30\r\n\r\n20\r\n\r\n10\r\n\r\n0 \r\nfilter for water treatment in chemical and pharmaceutical\r\nindustries. In recent years, this residual material has been used as an adsorbent without pretreatment or with a series of pretreatments for the removal of metal ions in industrial waste water. The objective of these investigations is the physicochemical and environmental characterization of this residual material and the feasibility analysis of its use as a pore former in ceramic matrices. This material has been characterized with the following techniques: scanning electron microscopy with semi quantitative chemical analysis (SEM-EDS), differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis (DTA-TGA), X ray diffraction (XRD), ecotoxicity, among others. Figure 1 shows the microscopic appearance of the broken stones by SEM. DTA- TGA analysis of this material is shown in Figure 2. It can be seen some exothermic peaks corresponding to the combustion of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin phases. This organic material is burned in a wide temperature range, between 250°C and 550°C. This is important to ensure that when this material is incorporated into clay mixtures as pore former, the sintering process takes place without crack formation in the brick. XRD analysis presents some peaks corresponding to semi crystalline cellulose at\r\n21.8, 31.7, 34.5 and 45.3 degrees. The ecotoxicity essay demonstrates that this type of waste can influence the development of sensitive species, when it is deposited on land without control. Therefore, special care must be taken during the stocking of this material when it is used as raw material of other processes, for example in construction industry.\r\n

Tengiz Kantaria has his expertise in the preparation and characterization of nanoparticles on the basis of amino acid based biodegradable poly(ester amide)s (MS thesis, 2015). Currently as a PhD student he is engaged in the synthesis and characterization of new biodegradable polymers (polyesters, polyamides, and poly(ester amide)s) via Cu(I) catalyzed alkyne–azide 1,3-cycloaddition click reaction.

Thanks to mild reaction conditions, functional group tolerance and quantitative yields click reactions are extensively used for the synthesis of a variety of polymer constructs including functionalized polymers and biopolymers, block copolymers, cyclic polymers, etc., “Click chemistry” (CC) is a rapidly growing field of research. Surprisingly, there are only few papers on the application of CC in step-growth polymerization (SGP) as a chain propagation reaction, and, to our best knowledge, there are no examples of the synthesis of biodegradable polymers such as aliphatic polyesters (PEs), polyamides and poly(ester amide)s via CC.\r\nThe present study is the first attempt of the synthesis of new biodegradable “clicking” polyesters on the basis of non-toxic building blocks such as fatty diols and dicarboxylic acids using click chemistry-based SGP. Among a variety of click reactions we have selected copper(I) catalyzed alkyne–azide 1,3-cyclo¬addition reaction due to availability of starting reagents for obtaining suitable monomers leading to the formation of 1,2,3-triazole cycles. It is expected that the insertion of 1,2,3-triazole groups in the PEs backbone can, firstly, improve their thermal characteristics; secondly, a weak basicity of 1,2,3-triazole cycle can catalytically influence their non-specific hydrolysis (biodegradation), and, finally, the possibility of quaternization of 1,2,3-triazole cycles using halo-alkyls opens a way to positively charged systems - either water soluble polymers or cross-linked hydrogels both promising for various biomedical applications. \r\nSynthesis of the new PEs has been carried out on the basis of di-propargyl esters of dicarboxylic acids and di-(bromoacetic acid)-alkylene diesters in the presence of sodium azide via tricomponent in situ click reaction (Scheme 1).\r\nOptimal reaction parameters (catalyst, solvent, solution concentration, reaction temperature, etc.) for the new click SGP have been established and the resulting PEs have been characterized by FTIR, NMR, GPC, visco¬simetry and DSC.\r\n

Temur Kantaria has his expertise in the preparation and characterization of nanoparticles on the basis of amino acid based biodegradable poly(ester urea)s (MS thesis, 2015). Currently as a PhD student he is engaged in the preparation, modification and characterization of new biodegradable nano- and microparticles on the bases of amino-acid-based ester polymers (poly(ester amide)s and poly(ester urea)s).

Amino Acid Based Biodegradable (AABB) polymers are promising materials for sophisticated biomedical applications. We have already carried out a systematic study of the AABB polymers NPs’ fabrication using a cost-effective method - nanoprecipitation (polymer deposition/solvent displace¬ment) from organic phase into water phase containing a surfactant. This study revealed that in terms of particles size, stability and biocompatibility the best appeared to be: as AABB polymer — poly(ester amide) composed of L-leucine, 1,6-hexanediol and sebacic acid — 8L6, as a solvent (organic phase) — DMSO, and as a surfactant — Tween 20. For in vitro biocompatibility assessment of the NPs several established cell lines have been used. In the initial experiments cytotoxicity level of the NPs has been checked only at one time point – after 24 h incubation with the NPs.\r\nAs a continuation of our research, we now have checked the biocompatibility of NPs made from 8L6 AABB polymer at longer incubation periods: up to four days of incubation (96 h). The experiments have been performed using three established cell lines, previously used by us for biocompatibility study at 24 hour time-point: A549 – human alveolar epithelial type II cells derived from lung carcinoma, Hepa1-6 – mouse hepatoma derived cells, RAW264.7 – mouse leukemic monocyte macrophage cell line. In parallel, NPs inside the outer, capsule-like layer of hepatic spheroids have been assessed using TEM. According to the obtained results, after 24 hours of incubation, NPs were visible as a discrete particles inside the inner layers of hepatic spheroids.\r\n

My subject area is in the synthesis of polymers, biopolymers and metal/polymeric nanocomposite particles and its applications. Syntheses of these polymers and its nanocomposites are focused on the search for more environment-friendly approaches. Environment-friendly approaches encompass the idea of Green Chemistry without compromising its potential for large-scale production. Applications of these polymers and nanocomposite particles range from catalysis, drug delivery, coating, environmental remediation, food safety and building construction materials.

Porous polymers have gained high attention recently due to the material’s combined properties of porosity and its polymeric material. Due to these synergistic properties, its applications have been widespread in gas adsorption and storage, gas separation and selective permeation, adsorption of organic pollutants, catalysis and photoconductors, molecular motor, clean energy and food safety. Although this field is emerging and expanding, there is still need to improve the synthetic method further to lead a more green and environment-friendly approach while not compromising its potential significant scalability.\r\n\r\nThis study demonstrates an easy yet environment-friendly approach by using biopolymeric materials, namely, Sodium Alginate and Poly (vinyl alcohol). Aside from being sourced from sustainable resources, its synthesis involves direct crosslinking chemistry in an aqueous system with simultaneous pore forming strategy by salting method. This straightforward methodology was created to ensure its future amenability to large-scale production.\r\n\r\nThe PVA/Na-Alginate composite membrane resulted into uniform and well-defined macroporous polymeric sheets. Diameters range from 10 to 50 microns. Synthetic process parameters (e.g. soaking time, temperature, pH, solvent choice) were experimentally optimized to produce a consistent and reproducible quality of membranes. Characterizations include SEM, FTIR, and TGA. Figure 1 gives the overall schematic diagram of the synthesis of PVA/Na-Alginate membrane. Figure 2 shows SEM images of the membrane.\r\n\r\nThis type of membrane is specially made as part for Time- Temperature Indicators (TTI) that the group is developing.\r\n

Soliman Soliman has his expertise in polymerization of functional monomers using different controlled polymerization techniques. Moreover, he has experience in formation of sensitive nanoparticles for definite stimuli like pH, temperature and light. In addition, he is familiar with synthesis of hydrogels and investigating their applications for different fields. He has built this knowledge after years of experience in research and teaching in home University and international cooperation like Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo-Japan and LorrainernUniversity, Nancy-France.rn

Purification of wastewater coming from industry as heavy metals and dyes is a critical step to protect water resources. Hydrogels can Be used as adsorbents for water treatment. Hydrogels Can be synthesized via chemical or Physical cross- linking. Physical cross-linking occurs via ionic interaction, hydrophobized natural polymers or hydrogen bonds. The advantage of physical cross- linking is to avoid the toxicity of commonly used cross-linking agents. Hydrogels based on sodium alginate and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) were successfully prepared via physical cross-linking by hydrogen bonding. Different hydrogels with different percentages of gelation were prepared by varying the molar ratio between sodium alginate and poly(2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate). The prepared hydrogels were characterized using different techniques as FT- IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analyses (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The presence of poly(2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate) in the hydrogels increases the metal ions adsorption (like CR6+, Cu 2+, Ni 2+ and Cd 2+) compared to calcium alginate based on hydrogel. Hydrogels based on poly(2 –hydroxyethyl methacrylate) improves acidic dye uptake compared to hydrogel based on calcium alginate.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n