Once widely used as adhesives for plywood, soy-based binders were replaced with the more durable urea and phenolic counterparts. There has been a renewed interest in soy-based resins generated by heightened environmental concerns and the volatile petroleum market.  There had not been direct evidence of soy proteins forming cross-links in resin networks presumably due to the difficulties in analysing reactions products from large structures such as soy proteins. In order to elucidate soy resin structures, we designed and synthesized a model compound (Figure 1)  consisting of the 6 most abundant amino acids found in soy proteins. 15N-Correlation NMR spectroscopy was then used to demonstrate that residues in soy proteins form cross-links with urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins. With tools capable of elucidating the structure of soy polymers, the optimization of more durable soy adhesives is now possible. 

Cross-links between soy protein residues and urea formaldehyde resins

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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