Strategies to explore established polymerization technique for novel applications

Polymeric materials represent a promising strategy for a variety of fields, from the delivery of different kinds of drugs in many therapeutic applications to the formulations of additives for the oil and gas companies. This work mainly exploited one polymerization technique for two different applications. In particular, during the first two years of the PhD, a novel formulation has been proposed to solve the problem of fluid losses during the oil extraction. On the other hand, during the year abroad in the Langer Lab at Koch Institute for Integrative Research at MIT, a library of polymers has been synthesized to find the best material to be applied along the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, the huge versatility of the polymers and the possibility to customize the product according to the needs have been taken into account. For these reasons, the features of the monomers have been improved with a proper functionalization to increase their potential applications in different parts of the intestine and colon. The aim of this thesis is to explore well-known polymerization techniques to develop new formulations for innovative solutions in different fields. The main used polymerization technique was the Free Radical Polymerization, with the thermal and the redox activation, but also Ring Opening Polymerization and Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain-Transfer Polymerization for the production of macromonomers and well-defined polymers, respectively. Versatility is the key of this work: the use of the same polymerization technique in different fields and the opportunity to synthesize the right material exploiting the reactive moiety in the structure of the starting monomers.

I materiali polimerici rappresentano una strategia promettente in diversi settori, dal farmaceutico al petrolifero. Questo lavoro si concentra su una specifica tecnica di polimerizzazione i cui prodotti hanno trovato impiego come additivi nei fluidi di perforazione usati durante l'estrazione di petrolio e come matrice polimerica per il rilascio controllato nel tempo e nello spazio di principi attivi nel tratto gastrointestinale. La polimerizzazione più studiata è stata la polimerizzazione radicalica con attivazione redox per quanto riguarda la soluzione industriale e termica per l'ambito biomedico. Accanto a questa, sono state usate altre polimerizzazione per formare macromonomeri biodegradabili e per produrre polimeri con una ben definita struttura e un determinato peso molecolare.