Mukund Sibi, (NDSU distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry) and Andriy Voronov (NDSU professor of coatings and polymeric materials) recently published a paper in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. Published by the American Chemical Society, one of the world’s largest scientific organizations, the journal is widely cited and addresses challenges of sustainability in the chemical enterprise and advances principles of green chemistry and green engineering. Sibi and Voronov’s work was featured on the cover of the May 24, 2021 edition of the journal.

Sibi and Voronov’s work is entitled “Evaluation of 3-Allyl-5-vinylveratrole in Latex Copolymerization with an Acrylic Monomer from High Oleic Soybean Oil” and discusses the viability of using plant and vegetable oil-based vinyl monomers as a promising platform for biobased latex polymers.

“It is exciting to see how molecules derived from two different plant sources in a synergistic manner advance properties of polymers thereof,” said Voronov. “We consider this work as a first step in developing a promising platform for sustainable plant-based polymeric materials, such as durable coatings, adhesives for multisubstrate bonding, hair care products, etc.”

Sibi added, “This is an ideal platform for advancing science in an interdisciplinary setting. It’s a nice blend of synthetic organic chemistry and polymer chemistry.”

The paper is available at pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c00663