Petroleum-based products have dominated the commercial market for many decades. However, there have been a push to replace petroleum-based products due to the unsustainability of petroleum source with those from renewable sources such as lignin. Novel and sustainable poly(ether amide)s were synthesized by melt polycondensation of two lignin-derived monoaromatic compounds: methyl 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate and methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate with 2-chloroethylamine. In this work we describe the synthesis and characterization of two new poly(ether-amide)s as alternative thermoplastics from lignin-based raw materials. The results show that the glass transition temperature (Tg), melting temperature (Tm) and the temperature for 50% mass loss, range from 90–120 °C, 180–190 °C, and 270–320 °C, respectively. We explored the structure/property relationship with respect to hydrogen bonding and its effects on the thermal and physical properties of these polymers. It was shown that hydrogen bond interactions appear to play an important role to define the thermal properties of the two poly(ether amide)s synthesized.

Synthesis of novel biorenewable poly(ether amide)s

255th National Meeting (2018)

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