Eco-friendly Functional Polymers

Manuel Palencia is chemist of Universidad de Córdoba (Montería – Colombia) and Doctor in Science of Universidad de Concepción (Concepción – Chile). At present, He is a professor with the Department of Chemistry at the Universidad del Valle (Cali – Colombia) and Director of the Research Group in Science with Technological Applications (GI-CAT). He is co-author of two invention patents, three book chapters, and several research articles in the fields of polymers, nanotechnology, agricultural and environmental sciences and membrane systems, including aspects of analytical sciences and chemical-physics description of biosystems, macromolecules and hybrid materials for numerous applications. He has been invited speaker in several specialized events. In particular, he was one of the top 5 finalists for the 2018 Elsevier Foundation Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge with his project Biomass-plastic: Eco-friendly structural materials, and his project was chose to receive support for development and implementation from the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ICS3) Tulio A. Lerma is chemist of Universidad del Valle (Cali – Colombia), Master in Chemistry and Candidate Doctor in Science of the same university. At the present, he is a researcher with both the Mindtech Research Group (Mindtech-RG) of Mindtech S.A.S., and the Research Group in Science with Technological Applications (GI-CAT) of Universidad del Valle. He is co-author of several research articles in the fields of polymers, nanotechnology, agricultural and environmental sciences, in particular, macromolecular systems, hybrid materials for sustainable environmental applications and geo- and biomimetic polymer systems. Viviana Garcés is chemist of Universidad del Valle (Cali – Colombia), Master in Chemistry and Candidate Doctor in Science of the same university. At the present, she is a researcher with both the Mindtech Research Group (Mindtech-RG) of Mindtech S.A.S., and the Research Group in Science with Technological Applications (GI-CAT) of Universidad del Valle. She is co-author of several research articles in the fields of biopolymers and polymers for application in agricultural and environmental sciences, with a particular focus on hydrogels and biotic-support hybrid materials. Mayra A. Mora is chemist of Universidad del Valle (Cali – Colombia), Master in Chemistry and Candidate Doctor in Science of the same university. At the present, she is researcher with both the Mindtech Research Group (Mindtech-RG) of Mindtech S.A.S. and the Research Group in Science with Technological Applications (GI-CAT) of Universidad del Valle. She is co-author of several research articles in the fields of biopolymers, polymers for application in agricultural and environmental sciences, with a particular focus on functional polymers for separation technologies in several industries. Jina M. Martínez is chemist of Universidad del Valle (Cali – Colombia), Master in Chemistry and Candidate Doctor in Science of the same university. At the present, she is a researcher with the Mindtech Research Group (Mindtech-RG) of Mindtech S.A.S. She is co-author of several research articles in the fields of functional polymers for environmental applications, including water, soil and air. Sixta L. Palencia is bacteriologist of Universidad de Córdoba (Montería – Colombia), Master in Molecular Microbiology of Universidad Libre (Barranquilla - Colombia) and Doctor in Biological Science of Universidad de Concepción. At the present, she is a researcher with the Mindtech Research Group (Mindtech-RG) of Mindtech S.A.S. and has worked in functional polymers for biotechnological applications (biotransformations), biomedical applications (blood and pathogens) and food applications (probiotics). She is co-author of several research articles in the fields of polymers with diverse applications in association with microorganisms.

Section 1. Polymer fundamentals and its connecting with current environmental context 1. Polymer chemistry: principles of polymer synthetic chemistry 2. Recyclable polymer chemistry: Structural and physicochemical aspects 3. Biodegradable polymer chemistry: Structural and physicochemical aspects 4. Biopolymers and bioplastics

Section 2. Experimental aspects in the design of eco-friendly functional polymers 5. Biosynthesis and polymer biotransformations 6. Composites and nanocomposites 7. Eco-friendly supramolecular systems: Polymer geo- and biomimicry 8. Hydrogels 9. Chemical transformations based on click chemistry

Section 3. Applications of eco-friendly functional polymers 10. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in agriculture 11. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in environmental science 12. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in food chemistry 13. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in structural applications 14. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in coating and surfaces 15. Functional and eco-friendly polymers in medical and biomedical applications