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Hydrogenation of Polyesters to Polyether Polyols
2019, Stadler, Bernhard M., Hinze, Sandra, Tin, Sergey, de Vries, Johannes G.
The amount of plastic waste is continuously increasing. Besides conventional recycling, one solution to deal with this problem could be to use this waste as a resource for novel materials. In this study, polyesters are hydrogenated to give polyether polyols by using in situ-generated Ru-Triphos catalysts in combination with Lewis acids. The choice of Lewis acid and its concentration relative to the ruthenium catalyst are found to determine the selectivity of the reaction. Monitoring of the molecular weight during the reaction confirms a sequential mechanism in which the diols that are formed by hydrogenation are etherified to the polyethers. To probe the applicability of this tandem hydrogenation etherification approach, a range of polyester substrates is investigated. The oligoether products that form in these reactions have the chain lengths that are appropriate for application in the adhesives and coatings industries. This strategy makes polyether polyols accessible that are otherwise difficult to obtain from conventional fossil-based feedstocks. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Scalable synthesis and polymerisation of a β-angelica lactone derived monomer
2020, Dell'Acqua, Andrea, Stadler, Bernhard M., Kirchhecker, Sarah, Tin, Sergey, de Vries, Johannes G.
Bio-based levulinic acid is easily ring-closed to α-angelica lactone (α-AL). α-AL can be isomerized to the conjugated β-AL under the influence of base, but since this is an equilibrium mixture it is very hard to devise a scalable process that would give pure β-AL. This problem was circumvented by distilling the equilibrium mixture to obtain a 90 : 10 mixture of β-and α-AL in 88% yield. This mixture was used for Diels-Alder reactions on 3 terpenes and on cyclopentadiene in up to 100 g scale. The latter DA adduct was subjected to a ROMP reaction catalysed by the Grubbs II catalyst. The resulting polymer has some similarities to poly-norbornene but is more polar. The polymer can be processed into films with very good transparency. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Properties of Novel Polyesters Made from Renewable 1,4-Pentanediol
2019, Stadler, Bernhard M., Brandt, Adrian, Kux, Alexander, Beck, Horst, de Vries, Johannes G.
Novel polyester polyols were prepared in high yields from biobased 1,4-pentanediol catalyzed by non-toxic phosphoric acid without using a solvent. These oligomers are terminated with hydroxyl groups and have low residual acid content, making them suitable for use in adhesives by polyurethane formation. The thermal behavior of the polyols was studied by differential scanning calorimetry, and tensile testing was performed on the derived polyurethanes. The results were compared with those of polyurethanes obtained with fossil-based 1,4-butanediol polyester polyols. Surprisingly, it was found that a crystalline polyester was obtained when aliphatic long-chain diacids (>C12) were used as the diacid building block. The low melting point of the C12 diacid-based material allows the development of biobased shape-memory polymers with very low switching temperatures (<0 °C), an effect that has not yet been reported for a material based on a simple binary polyester. This might find application as thermosensitive adhesives in the packaging of temperature-sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, these results indicate that, although 1,4-pentanediol cannot be regarded as a direct substitute for 1,4-butanediol, its novel structure expands the toolbox of the adhesives, coatings, or sealants formulators. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.