The objective of this project is to further develop a sugar-based molecular gelator into an oil-thickening agent for spill recovery and remediation. Biocatalytically derived low molecular weight phase selective gelators are important in advanced materials research. An alternative to environmentally persistent polymeric gel systems, low molecular weight gelators are a new class of functional smart materials, which assemble due to easily broken non-covalent forces. Focusing efforts on these relatively unexplored highly tunable systems have helped to develop a strong understanding of solid/liquid gel systems, the utility and character of non-covalent forces in materials, and green synthetic methods. Phase selective gelators, a subgenre of low molecular weight gelators, are capable of selectively solidifying one of two immiscible liquid phases due to solubility properties and physical occlusion. Most of these gelators have been discovered serendipitously but continued attempts to rationally design systems are needed to elucidate the structure-assembly/activity relationships and allow for the systematic formulation and understanding of these molecules. Low molecular weight gelators synthesized from renewable resources bridge many sub disciplines in chemistry, engineering, and materials science including sustainable design and green chemistry.
Phase Selective Gelators (PSGs) have a wide variety of applications as oil thickeners. Developed as biocompatible materials to recover spilled oil in offshore oil spills, PSGs conceptually allow for the oil's recovery while currently used dispersants solubilize the foreign matter into the marine environments. As gelation is a physical process, without chemically altering the gelator or oil, the PSG may be recycled and reused. In addition to oil spill recovery, oil thickeners may be used in personal care, and food industry to transport liquids, or to provide desirable texture or consistency in food. As PSGs can be easily synthesized through low energy biocatalytic means from renewable resources they represent a class of functional and sustainable value-added smart materials. By developing environmentally benign products for widespread use researchers can lower the dependence on synthetic chemicals while mitigating the effects of synthetic systems in the environment.
Introduction and Statement of Problem: The major goals of the project were to assess the viability of our BioGel technology leads to a commercially viable product, and second to train us in the art of this assessment. The use of biomass as a resource for developing next generation green materials is of current interest, and we were able to successfully pique the interest of industry professionals from a variety of sectors (oil, cosmetics, and the food industry) into assessing the viability of our technology. Here, we present the use of bio-derived simple molecules for oil spill recovery and further to use as a thickener for vegetable oils (alternate to trans fats) in a variety of consumer products. By assessing a variety of hurdles, including the use of non-renewable resources as base commodities in formulated products, we were able to determine that our product would have a place in the market, offering consumers and producers a green viable technology to enhance their products with. Intellectual Merit: This interdisciplinary research lends itself to a variety of important contributions to the scientific community including development of oil thickening (gel formation) agent by using easily accessible renewable resource and environmentally friendly starting materials (sugar/fatty acid conjugates). It serves to commercialize a new series of products using disruptive technology, namely self-assembled nanosystems, and market these products after taking care of necessary safety and toxicity testing. Intellectually it serves to enhance the work being done on hierarchically assembled molecular systems (soft materials) and bridge the gap between basic science and applied materials. By using basic science research coupled with product development, it could be possible to develop a wide range of new products/technology for commercialization. Broader Impacts of this research includes: 1 - Benefits to society: The broader impact will be the generation of an affordable and efficient technology to contain disastrous oil-spills. Phase-selective gelation of oil from a mixture of oil and water could offer a viable approach for the containment and remediation of oil spills on the ocean. Therefore, the availability of phase-selective gelators may allow scientists to devise ingenious uses for these molecules. The commercial impacts are augmented by the expected environmental impacts greatly effecting marine environments and coastal areas. 2 - Broadening participation of underrepresented groups: One graduate student and two undergraduate students were participated in this project. All students are from the City College of New York, an accredited Postsecondary Minority Institution. The students were trained as future scientists and are expected to contribute to the development of next generation sustainable technologies. Students from underrepresented groups were selected to work on these projects in the lab, and the targeted outreach was performed at City College to a greatly diverse audience.
