Summary.

The crises of diminishing non-renewable resources, rising cost of Industrial goods and energy and rapid population growth constitute major development constraints in Nigeria and many other developing countries. In order to surmount these barriers, Nigeria requires development strategies that are consistent with her natural resources endowment and also geared towards eventual self sufficiency in food, energy and industrial materials.
Plant oils represent one of the important key materials that can be obtained from biomass cheaply and processed readily to supply the appropriate and important raw materials for the chemical and allied industries. Oils are triglycerides. The triglyceride contains active sites amenable to chemical reaction. These sites include the double bond, the allylic carbons, the ester group and the carbons alpha to the ester group. These active sites can be used to introduce polymerisable groups on the triglyceride using the same synthetic techniques that have been applied in the synthesis of petrochemical based-polymers.
In this work I will be showing how we have introduced azido functional group directly onto the triglyceride chain of Adenopus oil, via epoxidation of the alkyl double bond sites and epoxy ring opening reaction, leading to the preparation of long chain vicinal hydoxyl azido compounds and mono and diglyceride epoxidised azido compounds. Such compounds are versatile in the surfactant and pharmaceutical industries.

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(*) Dr Emmanuel Temitope AKINTAYO obtained B.Sc Chemistry at the University of Ibadan in 1987and Ph.D in Applied Chemistry in 1999. He undertook Postdoctoral work at the Institute for Organic Chemistry, University of Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany in 2001 and 2002 under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. He has standing collaboration with Prof (Dr) Thomas Ziegler of the same Institute till date. Dr Akintayo's research is in the area of Applied Chemistry with particular interest in structural and compositional analysis of vegetable oils, application of vegetable oils in alkyd resins and Oleochemicals . He has about 20 years experience in teaching, research, management and leadership in Applied Chemistry.
Commencing his career as an Assistant Lecturer, Dr Akintayo was promoted over the ranks up till the level of Associate Professor in 2004 and is presently being considered for a Professorial chair in Applied Chemistry at the University of Ado-Ekiti, in Nigeria. He has published over forty articles in internationally peer reviewed journals. He is a member of many professional organizations. He had served at the University of Ado-Ekiti in various capacities, as Head of Department of Chemistry, Director of Pre-degree Science Program, Member of University Development Committee, and presently he is the Director of the University's Centre for Research and Development.
He is a committed University teacher who is dedicated to human resource development and the promotion of Science and Technology in Africa.