<br/>The seeds of <i>Brassica carinata</i>, more commonly known as Ethiopian Mustard, contain oil that can be utilized in advanced jet fuel and bio-diesel. In some places, crops of this plant are being grown in large quantities for this purpose, but large amounts of waste material remain post-production. Extracting a useful starting material from this waste material that can be functionalized and polymerized to yield materials with similar properties to commodity plastics provides a viable option for “greener” plastics, as the majority of feedstock chemicals used for plastic production are petroleum-based. Through simple base hydrolysis, a biorenewable monomer is extracted from plant matter, modified, and polymerized. By controlling the ratios of modified monomers and reaction conditions, copolymers with tunable thermal properties similar to those seen in commercial plastics are obtained. Identities of monomers are confirmed by NMR spectra, and molecular weights are confirmed by HFIP GPC. Thermal properties are shown by DSC thermograms.

Alternative to commercial plastics: Extraction and polymerization of a biorenewable monomer

2019 Spring National Meeting

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