The Faculty of Graduate Studies awarded the researcher Sana Saqer a Master’s Degree in Chemistry in response to her thesis entitled “Monomers Design Strategy to Create Curcumin Based Polymers with Demanding Functionality”.

Several curcumin based polymers, poly(curcumin-co-phenylenediamine), were synthesized and their conductivities and antimicrobial activities were evaluated.  A new polymer synthetic technology was used to synthesize the polymers.  In this technology, curcumin was reacted with the diazonium salt of p-phenylenediamine to produce a polymer backbone that is completely conjugated from head to tail.  The reaction was carried in a one pot process. The polymerization process was carried in two different solvents dimethylacetamideand water. Produced polymers were characterized by various techniques such as DSC, DTG, MS, UV, FT-IR, 13C and 1H NMR spectroscopy.

The prepared polymers were evaluated for conductivities; no conductivity was observed.  In order to enhance the conductivity of the polymers they were modified in several ways.  Polymer cross-linking was carried out using p-diaminobenzene.  Derivatization by adding a heterocyclic ring to the polymer backbone was also performed.  Cross-linking with transition metals iron and copper was carried out.  Modified polymers were also evaluated for conductivity, no conductivity was observed.   The lack of conductivity could be related to several reasons such as:  the equipments used for making the pellet for conductivity analysis was not adequate, conductivity meter used could be unsuitable for this type of polymer, the doping process was not efficient and impurities could be present in the polymer.

The antibacterial activities of the polymers against four different bacteria strains (Escherechia coli, Staphylococcus aureus strain 1, Staphylococcus aureus strain 2and Klebsiella pneumoniae) were evaluated. The results showed that the polymers have a good to excellent antibacterial potency especially against Escherechia coli and Staphylococcus aureus strain 2, and polymers with antimicrobial activities are unique and rare.

The committee consisted of: Dr. Ahmad Abu Obeid as a main supervisor and chairman, Dr. Othman Hamed as a second supervisor, Dr. Orwah Housheh as an external examiner and Prof. Shehdeh Joudeh as an internal examiner.

At the end of the session, the committee approved the success of the researcher and recommended her a Master’s degree.