Renewable Polyethylene Mimics Derived from Castor Oil

• DOI: 10.1002/marc.201100280
• Publication Date: 2011-06-30T09:53:12Z
• Authors: Oĝuz Türünç; Lucas Montero de ...; Michael A. R. Meier
• Keywords: Castor Oil; info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/540; ddc:540; Chemistry & allied sciences; Fatty Acids; Temperature; Green Chemistry Technology; 540; 01 natural sciences; Polymerization; 0104 chemical sciences; Biomimetic Materials; Polyethylenes

AbstractAn increasing number of reports on the syntheses of carbohydrate‐ and plant oil‐based polymers has been published in ongoing efforts to produce plastic materials from renewable resources. Although many of these polymers are biodegradable and this is a desirable property for certain applications, in some cases non‐degradable polymers are needed for long‐term use purposes. Polyolefins are one of the most important classes of materials that have already taken their places in our daily life. On the other hand, their production relies on fossil resources. Therefore, within this contribution, we discuss synthetic routes toward a number of polyethylene mimics derived from fatty acids via thiol‐ene and ADMET polymerization reactions in order to establish more sustainable routes toward this important class of polymers. Two different diene monomers were thus prepared from castor oil derived platform chemicals, their polymerization via the two mentioned routes was optimized and compared to each other, and their thermal properties were investigated. magnified image