Compared with petrochemical polymers, biobased polymers are very scarce in terms of variety and production volume. There are only a few biobased polymers commercially available with relatively small scales of production. Currently biobased polymers only find some niche applications due to limited performance and relatively high production costs. In order for biobased polymers to replace conventional polymers in a broad range of applications, it is necessary to manipulate the monomer and building block structure of the renewable polymers for attaining diverse properties. In this work, we made a series of attempts to explore the use of several renewable feedstocks in developing new thermosetting polymer resins. The renewable feedstocks used include rosin, vegetable oils, lignin, terpenes, etc. Syntheses of epoxies, curing agents, and unsaturated polyesters using these renewable feedstocks were studied. By manipulating the molecular structures of monomers and polymers, the resulting polymers exhibited a broad spectrum of properties.

Broadening the window of properties of biobased polymers via manipulating the structures of building blocks

248th National Meeting (2014)

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