Because plant oils are agro-based, sustainable, and relatively inexpensive, they are good raw materials for the synthesis of specialty polymers. In particular, biodiesel (produced by reacting a triglyceride with an alcohol) is increasingly being used as diesel fuel and heating oil and may present itself as an opportunity for product development. In this work we have used the epoxides of triglycerides and biodiesel as starting materials and polymerized them with cationic catalysts. The copolymerization of epoxidized triglyceride and epoxidized biodiesel produced copolymers that ranged from liquids to solids. The use of a comonomer (e.g., diepoxides and propylene oxide) enabled a range of diverse polymer structures to be made. The NMR spectra of these materials provided helpful information on the reaction mechanisms involved. These new polymers may perhaps find applications as additives in lubricants, specialty elastomers, thickeners in coatings, and ingredients in oil-based commercial formulations.<br/>

Cationic polymerization of epoxidized triglycerides and their copolymers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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