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Submitted to: IUPAC Congress
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2010 Publication Date: 7/11/2010 Citation: Liu, Z. 2010. Preparation of Vegetable Oil Polymers by a Green Processing Method [abstract]. 43rd IUPAC Congress, 7/11-16/10, Glasgow, UK. p. F-19-020. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Recently, attention has been focused on the development of environmentally friendly replacements for volatile organic solvents. One promising candidate is supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). The low toxicity of CO2 and lack of toxic solvent residues in the final products make CO2 an attractive medium for the synthesis and processing of polymers and biomaterials. Current interest in cheap biodegradable polymeric materials has encouraged the development of such materials from readily available inexpensive renewable resources. Among synthesized biobased products from agricultural resources, natural oils are useful raw materials in the synthesis of polymers. Here, we report the boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF3•OEt2) catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) in liquid carbon dioxide in an effort to develop useful biobased polymers. The resulting polymers were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), 1H NMR, 13C NMR, solid state 13C NMR spectroscopes, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The results indicated that ring-opening polymerization of ESO occurred at mild conditions. The formed materials were highly crosslinked polymers. The glass transition temperatures of these polymers ranged from -11.9°C to -24.1°C. TGA results showed that polymers were thermally stable at temperatures lower than 200°C and significant decomposition mainly occurred above 340°C. |
