P&G R&D Experts Explore Sustainable Polymer Development at the American Chemical Society’s Spring 2025 Meeting

The American Chemical Society’s (ACS) annual Spring Meeting assembles industry experts and academic minds to explore the latest chemistry insights, seeking potential solutions for the industry's biggest challenges. This year, P&G R&D experts gathered in San Diego, California, to learn from and collaborate with thought leaders under one key goal: accelerate the development of water-soluble polymers.

Water-soluble polymers are invaluable across many industries including water treatment, crop production, pharmaceuticals, digestive health, oil recovery, mining, food formulations, and home care products. P&G has many applications for water-soluble polymers, including in a variety of cleaning product formulations (for skin, hair, clothing, and more).

P&G R&D Presents: Water-Soluble Polymer Symposia

P&G R&D co-sponsored the “Water-Soluble Polymer Symposia”—an interactive session designed to foster conversation among industrial, academic, and public agency researchers who are leading the way in the development of these polymers.

As one of the selected Presidential Symposia Events, attendees enjoyed lectures from a variety of polymer scientists, as well as an interactive panel hosted and moderated by industry experts. This symposium brought together researchers focused on advancing synthesis and design, characterization, and modeling and sustainability of water-soluble polymers to drive the development of sustainable, high-performance materials.

• Synthesis and Design
  Maren Roman, PhD, Professor in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech University, shared developments in new approaches to synthesize and industrialize carbohydrate based water-soluble polymers. With a history of excellence in polymer science, Virginia Tech recently achieved national distinction by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Materials Innovation Platform dedicated to progressing the science and engineering of glycomaterials.

• Characterization
  Jaqueline Thomas, PhD, Principal Scientist at P&G, shared highlights of various aspects of polymer characterization across the material lifecycle, ranging from synthesis to end-of-life. These methods are necessary to enable quality control during manufacturing, understand polymer behavior during formulation and use, and assess the polymer’s fate after product use. 

• Sustainability & Modeling
  Michael A. Webb, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, explored approaches and considerations for sustainable polymer design. Soluble polymers are important in many industries because they help control the viscosity of products like lubricants, paints, and cosmetics—but connecting polymer structure to rheological performance remains a major challenge.

• Sustainability & Modeling
  Kathleen McDonough, PhD, Research Fellow at P&G, highlighted the importance of sustainable-by-design innovation and biodegradation potential for water-soluble polymers. As water-soluble polymers used in detergents and personal care products are commonly disposed down the drain, it’s crucial to understand their biodegradability by microbial communities in receiving treatment plants and streams.

Following the four symposia presentations, there was an engaging panel discussion, with the four speakers and John Warner, one of the founders of the field of green chemistry. The session ended with a combined reception and poster presentation, including over three dozen posters dedicated to polymer science. 

To continue to raise awareness and drive engagement in this important topic, ACS Publications issued a call for papers for several upcoming journal Special Issues featuring Water-soluble Polymers. To learn more information and contribute to the call for papers, please reach out to managing.editor@macrolett.acs.org.

Partnering to Advance our Foundational Polymer Understanding

P&G is committed to accelerating innovation and forging new discoveries to deliver superior product performance that is sustainable. That’s why we’re investing time and resources into industry partnerships at ACS, including the ACS Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) and the Natural Polymers Consortium (NPC). These efforts explore novel approaches and advancements of polymer chemistry for the development of sustainable, functional materials which can lead to new benefits for our consumers.

P&G is also a participant in the National Science Foundation (NSF) MFS-SPEED program, which works to tackle global challenges in plastic waste and polymer development by applying machine learning techniques to accelerate innovation pathways. Last year, NSF announced this multi-million-dollar research opportunity to explore sustainable solutions that could elevate CPG innovation.

The field of polymer science has broad applications and therefore shows great potential for positive impact across categories and industries. P&G R&D will continue to progress the science of water-soluble polymers, showcasing our commitment to bringing science-based, irresistibly superior products to market.

Want to know more about our game-changing methodologies? Read about P&G R&D’s advanced analytical techniques for characterizing water-soluble polymers.