We have synthesized highly renewable, thermoplastic copolyesters with a wide range of melting temperatures. Among the comonomers applied to obtain terpolyesters and tetrapolyesters were lignin derivatives, such as vanillic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid and phloretic acid. Phloretic acid as principle comonomer resulted in the best combination of polymerization behavior and polymer properties. Bulk polymerizations were performed as two-stage transesterifications. The effects of the number of methoxy groups of comonomers and the monomer content on the glass transition temperature and melting temperature was established. The copolyesters were further characterized by <sup>1</sup>H NMR, <sup>13</sup>C NMR, TGA, solution viscometry, GPC, and hot-stage microscopy.

Renewable aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters based on phloretic acid

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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