Chemistry Science Talk: Structural Studies on the World’s First Manmade Plastic: Nitrocellulose

Agenda

Date: 2024-09-20

Time: 5:00 pm

Location: SA136

For online audiences: please join us with Tencent Meeting (ID:403-4899-6344)

Speaker: Dr Edmund Morris

Topic: Structural Studies on the World’s First Manmade Plastic: Nitrocellulose

Details

Finding initial uses in billiard balls and cinema film, nitrocellulose (NC) was first prepared almost 200 years ago. Despite being the first manmade plastic, NC now has numerous high-performance applications such as immobilizing membranes for lateral flow tests and as a binder for solid rocket formulations. However, as a natural product derivative significant variation is found in the morphology, structure and resulting properties depending on the cellulose source and even plant growth conditions. Comparing this variation is a challenging industrial problem as there is no reliable crystal structure for NC, as such, very little is known about the conformation or form this key polymer takes on the atomic scale. This talk will cover the selection and optimization of multiple approaches to determining the crystal structure of NC, a polycrystalline polymer with anisotropic order including the revival of fiber x-ray diffraction, a technique once commonly applied in structural biology.

Speaker

Dr. Edmund Morris is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Pulham Group at the University of Edinburgh. His current research focuses on developing novel polysaccharide derivatives for use as binders in composite materials. Dr. Morris's academic journey began at the University of Liverpool, where he pursued a BSc. During his undergraduate studies, he spent a year at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), working under the supervision of Dr. Graham Dawson on a SURF project. Following graduation, Dr. Morris furthered his studies at the University of Edinburgh, completing an MSc. in Materials Chemistry. He remained at Edinburgh to complete a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Carole Morrison and Prof. Colin Pulham, investigating the crystal structure of nitrocellulose.