The macromolecular chemistry based on vegetable feedstock represents the answer to the quest for polymeric materials capable of replacing their fossil-based counterparts. The use of petroleum in chemical industry has proved to be disadvantageous in terms of costs, shortage supply and it is a nonrenewable source. Triglycerides or vegetable oils have a three-armed star structure in which three fatty acids are joined at a glycerol junction. Their competitive cost, worldwide availability and built-in functionality (esters functions and unsaturations) have catapulted the use of triglycerides as a source of macromonomers for polymer applications. The development of oleo-chemicals has been carried out mainly through the functionalization of the double bonds to insert more reactive groups, usually epoxy, amine or hydroxyl, etc. The mechanical properties of these oil-based epoxy resins can be enhanced by the addition of materials bearing aromatic structures. Phenolic compounds exist in most plant tissues as secondary metabolites. Their structure consists of an aromatic ring carrying one (phenol) or more hydroxyl (polyphenol) moieties. These hydroxyl groups are prompted to be chemically modified. Thus, by employing triglyceride and phenolic monomers functionalized with epoxy and amine groups, via oxidation and nucleophilic addition respectively, the main purpose of this project is to cover the major aspects related to the chemical synthesis, physical-chemical characterization and study of thermo-mechanical properties of a bio-based epoxy resin, where highly functionalized components are synthetized by chemical modification of oils and phenolic acids. Results showed that this new biobased epoxy polymeric systems display interesting properties that are close to their commercial counterparts.

Renewable resources as precursors of biobased thermosetting resins

249th National Meeting (2015)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.