EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award

Un Premio Nobel per un grande Futuro | Conferenze @ Dipartimento “G. Natta”
Chairperson: Prof. Maurizio S. Galimberti
> Brochure
> Locandina

POLIMERIZZAZIONE

Vincenzo Busico | Università di Napoli
Simona Losio | Scitec – CNR, Milano 
Giovanni Ricci | Scitec – CNR, Milano

 > Registration form

Sequencing Polypropylene

Vincenzo Busico
Prof. Vincenzo Busico is full professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Federico II University of Naples (Italy), where he heads the Laboratory of Stereoselective Polymerizations (LSP). He also served as Professor of Polyolefin Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2007-2011), and Scientific Chairman of the Polyolefin Technology Area at the Dutch Polymer Institute (2004-2019).
His main scientific interests lie in catalytic olefin polymerization and polymer microstructure determinations. He is co-author of 200+ papers in international journals (WoS H-Index 51), 20+ international patents, and 50+ Plenary/Keynote lectures worldwide.
He is the recipient of the Chini Lecture Award (2024, Società Chimica Italiana), the Ziegler-Natta Lectureship Award (2009, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh), and the European Science and Engineering Award on ‘Stereocontrol in Polymerization’ (1997, Exxon Chemical Europe).

Abstract:
When Giulio Natta «made polypropylene» in March 1954 it was hard to imagine that coordination catalysts would have been able to change a seemingly trivial (albeit prochiral) organic molecule into the chemical equivalent of an alphabet and competently encode complex information into a high molar mass hydrocarbon. The unprecedentedly wide properties envelope of what has become the largest-volume single plastic on the market stems from that ability. Similarly to DNA chains in the genome, polypropylene chains carry the code dictating the innate part of material behavior; on the other hand, sequencing polypropylene turned out to be -in chemical sense- much more challenging than DNA. In this talk I will tell how the Italian school of macromolecular stereochemistry, starting with the pioneering work of Annalaura Segre and Adolfo Zambelli, managed to ‘break the code’ and unraveled the relationships between high-resolution microstructure and physical properties.

Single centre catalysts for insertion polymerization. Opportunities, challenges, perspective

Simona Losio
Simona Losio is a senior researcher at Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta” (SCITEC-CNR) in Milan (Italy).
Her research activity concerns the design, synthesis and characterization of ethylene and propylene based co- and terpolymers with higher, linear, cyclic, and branched olefins using homogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts and their 1H and 13C NMR characterization, often accompanied by the study of copolymerization statistics.
In recent years, her research has also focused on the synthesis of polymers from renewable sources, in particular polycarbonates and polyols from CO2. Finally, she deals with the recovery and enhancement of sulfur for the preparation of innovative polymers for industrial applications.

Abstract:
In the last 40 years, thanks to the discovery of methylalumoxane (MAO) by Kaminsky, the interest in the homogeneous polymerization of polyolefins has not only grown, but has changed focus from primarily studying the metallocene complexes of Group 4 to widespread exploration of post-metallocene systems. Homogeneous catalysis has in fact proven to be a fantastic toolbox: it enables the synthesis of linear, branched, blocky or grafted (co)polymers, with tunable composition, branch-type distribution and stereosequences through the proper choice of the metal transition complex, mainly involving electronic and steric modifications of the ligand, (co)monomers, feeding methodology of (co)monomers and reactor operating conditions.

Stereospecific polymerisation of conjugated dienes: origins, developments and future prospects

Giovanni Ricci
Dr. Giovanni Ricci graduated in Chemistry at the University of Parma in 1982 and he earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Science in 1987. In 1984 he was hired as researcher at the Istituto di Chimica delle Macromolecole (ICM) of CNR (the Institute created by Giulio Natta), directed at that time by Prof. Lido Porri of the Milan Polytechnic, and began to deal with stereospecific polymerization of conjugated diolefins with transition metal and lanthanide catalysts, which still represents his main interest. His current position is Research Director at the same institute, nowadays called Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta” (SCITEC “G. Natta”).
In 2014 he was awarded with the Recognition at Innovation eni “Eni Award”, and in 2018 with the Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year_TTI Award. He is co-author of 130 papers in international journals, 40 international patents and several communications to international meetings.

Abstract:
The presentation intends to provide an overview on the stereospecific polymerization of conjugated dienes (i.e., butadiene, isoprene and substituted butadienes), from its origins in the 1950s at the Polytechnic of Milan to the present day, passing through the various developments that have concerned with the introduction of increasingly active and selective catalytic systems and the synthesis of new and more stereoregular polymeric structures.
Polybutadiene (cis-1,4 and syndiotactic 1,2) and cis-1,4 polyisoprene are currently the only polydienes industrially produced on a large scale: part of the lecture will therefore be dedicated to i) the description of the catalysts used for their synthesis; ii) their use, essentially for the production of elastomeric compounds for tires; iii) an overview on the worldwide major producers and users.
The final part of the presentation will focus on the future perspectives of the sector, mainly determined by the need for greater sustainability of industrial processes.