Interplay between viscoelastic and chemical tunings in fatty-acid-based polyester adhesives: engineering biomass toward functionalized step-growth polymers and soft networks.

This Article describes the synthesis and characterization of renewable self-adhesive coatings with tunable viscoelastic properties and equipped with well-defined amounts of carboxylic acid "sticker" groups with adhesion promoting characteristics. Hydroxyl-ended polyesters with various architectures (linear, branched) were synthesized by melt polycondensation of dimerized fatty acids and fatty diols and then cured with maleic anhydride-modified triglycerides (such as maleinized soybean oil) in the presence of the amidine catalyst 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.