Chemistry

Prof. George John
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The City College of the City University of New York (CUNY), USA

Abstract: In future research, developing materials from renewable resources would be fascinating yet demanding practice, which will have a direct impact on industrial applications, and economically viable alternatives. This study presents an emerging concept of generating new chemicals, intermediates and materials in a ‘Biorefinery’. Our continuous efforts in this area have led us to develop new amphiphiles and surfactants from industrial by-products, which upon self-assembly produced molecular materials including micelles, emulsions, lipid nanotubes, twisted/helical nanofibers, thickening agents (molecular gels) and liquid crystals. More recently, harnessing the availability of ‘chiral pool’ of carbohydrates and selectivity of enzymes catalysis, our laboratory produced an array of amphiphilic molecules from simple sugars and sugar alcohols. Intriguingly, by combining biocatalysis, with principles of green and supramolecular chemistry, we have developed building blocks-to-assembled materials. These results will lead to efficient molecular design of supramolecular architectures and multifunctional soft materials from underutilized plant/crop-based renewable feedstock.