The Department of Chemistry - BMC is recruiting a PhD student for the project Catalytic Antioxidants. Antioxidants are added today in small amounts (0.1-3 weight-%) to synthetic as well as natural products to extend their service-life. However, due to the enormous quantities of materials produced, the global market for antioxidants can be counted in million tons per year. From an economical point of view, this increasing and widespread use of antioxidants may be well motivated. However, it is not environmentally acceptable.
Many of the hundreds of antioxidants that are commonly used today are toxic or persistent when they leak out of the materials. Also, they work on a stoichiometric basis. That is, each antioxidant molecule can only quench 1-2 of the reactive oxygen species that are involved in the deterioration of the materials. If one could continuously regenerate the antioxidants and make them work in a catalytic fashion, it would be possible to cut down on the amounts of additives to polymers and oils. It is the purpose of our research to design “green”, catalytic, multifunctional (peroxide decomposing and chain-breaking) antioxidants. Novel compounds are first evaluated in our own model systems and then sent to other groups in academia or industry for testing under more realistic conditions.
PhD Position in Organic Chemistry
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Burse
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2013-05-01, 00:00
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2025-09-29, 17:01
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Maria Dumitru
