Controlling Hybrid Polyhydroxyurethane Adhesive and Rheological Properties by Partial Carbonation of Biobased Epoxy Monomer.

Controlling hybrid material properties by simple monomer design offers an elegant pathway to prepare thermoset adhesives with tunable properties. Herein, biobased hybrid polyhydroxyurethane/polyepoxy is prepared starting from partially carbonated cashew nut shell epoxy derivatives (NC514) and m-xylene diamine (MXDA). The curing reactions, that is, epoxy-amine and cyclic carbonate aminolysis, monitored by ATR-IR spectroscopy at 50 °C are found to be concomitant yielding highly homogeneous materials.

Structural Variations in Biobased Polyfurfuryl Alcohol Induced by Polymerization in Water.

Poly(furfuryl alcohol) is a thermostable biobased thermoset. The polymerization of furfuryl alcohol (FA) is sensitive to a number of side reactions, mainly the opening of the furan ring into carbonyl species. Such carbonyls can be used to introduce new properties into the PFA materials through derivatization.

Exploring New Horizons for Bio-Based Poly(furfuryl alcohol) by Exploiting Functionalities Offered by Side Reactions.

Poly(furfuryl alcohol) is a bio-based thermoset resin with a limited application portfolio due to its brittleness. Side ring-opening reactions that occur during polymerization lead to carbonyl moieties. Such unique self-generated functionality was exploited to generate tough and ductile materials via the creation of Schiff-based macromolecular architectures.

Conditions to Control Furan Ring Opening during Furfuryl Alcohol Polymerization.

The chemistry of biomass-derived furans is particularly sensitive to ring openings. These side reactions occur during furfuryl alcohol polymerization. In this work, the furan ring-opening was controlled by changing polymerization conditions, such as varying the type of acidic initiator or the water content.