Sustainable aromatic aliphatic polyesters and polyurethanes prepared from vanillin-derived diols via green catalysis

The design and preparation of polymers by using biobased chemicals is regarded as an important strategy towards a sustainable polymer chemistry. Herein, two aromatic diols, 4-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methoxyphenol and 2-(4-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methoxyphenoxy)ethanol, have been prepared in good yields through the direct reduction of vanillin and hydroxyethylated vanillin (4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) using NaBH4, respectively. The diols were submitted to traditional polycondensation and polyaddition with acyl chlorides and diisocyanatos, and serials of new polyesters and polyurethanes were prepared in high yields with moderate molecular weight ranging from 17,000 to 40,000 g mol . Their structures were characterized by H NMR, C NMR and FTIR, and their thermal properties were studied by TGA and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), indicating that the as-prepared polyesters and polyurethanes have T in the range of 16.2 to 81.2 °C and 11.6 to 80.4 °C, respectively. -1 1 13

Synthesis and performance evaluation of novel soybean oil-based plasticisers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Novel bio-based plasticisers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are a significant and growing area of interest. These compounds aim to replace toxic and petrochemical additives in commonly used plastic products. Plasticisers can comprise as much as 50% of the total mass of the PVC product. Epoxidised soybean oil (ESBO) is a commercially available bio-based plasticizer that is typically used at lower levels than traditional phthalates in PVC compounds because it does not show equivalent performance to existing phthalate plasticisers. Four derivatives of ESBO have been synthesized through reaction at the epoxide rings. These compounds have been evaluated in PVC formulations and compared to current petrochemical plasticisers, as well as ESBO. The product of methoxy polyethylene glycol and ESBO shows good plasticising ability, giving a PVC compound with higher tensile strength and elongation than dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and a lower glass transition temperature (Tg) than with the use of ESBO