Dr Rob McElroy
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Green Chemistry Associate Tel: + 44 (0) 1904 324547 Address: |
Rob McElroy gained his Ph.D in 2007 at Keele University under Prof. Jim Howell working on the production of composite materials from copolymers incorporating renewable resources. This involved the synthesis of monomers and surfactants derived from rapeseed oil and monomers derived from silicates which were then copolymerised to form emulsions suitable for industrial application as pressure sensitive adhesives. This work included both lab (1 and 5 Kg) and pilot plant (3000 Kg) scale reactions and industrial trials. The scientific research conducted was included in a patent - Glyceride Compounds and Uses Thereof: Rapeseed Oil-based Resins for Composite Materials”, British Patent Application 0515942.1, August 2005. From 2007 until 2009 he was appointed as teaching and research assistant at Keele University.
In 2009 he joined Prof. Pietro Tundo’s Carbonate Chemistry Group at Interuniversity Consortium “The Chemistry for the Enviroment”, INCA, where he developed his interest in Green Chemistry. In particular, he worked on the reactions of amines and hydrazines with alkyl carbonates to form carbamates. This included establishing an order of reactivity of amines with carbonates, finding a new route to BOC protected amines and a novel route to 1,3-oxazinanones via an intermolecular cyclisation mechanism. In his second year in Italy, he was granted a post-doctoral fellowship at the Department of Environmental Science at Cà Foscari University of Venice, within a FSE (Social European Fund) project titled "Solventi eco-compatibili e a bassa tossicità per il settore calzaturiero Veneto" (Eco-compatible solvents with low toxicity for shoe manufacturing in the region of Veneto). Overall his work during his two-years post-doctoral fellowship, within the Green Chemistry field, resulted in the publication of 3 scientific papers (1 already published, 2 submitted) and one book chapter (in publication). In this time he was also involved in a number of EU funding grant applications i.e. ITN Marie Curie 2010 and ITN Marie Curie 2011, ERC starting grant.
He joined the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence in 2011 and he is now working on extracting and functionalising high value compounds from biomass utilising green solvents, for applications in the production of packaging materials.