ARS | Publication request: Polymerization of plant oils in carbon dioxide media

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 27, 2012
Publication Date: December 15, 2012
Citation: Liu, Z., Shah, S. 2012. Polymerization of plant oils in carbon dioxide media[abstract]. Proceedings of PolyTech 2012: International Conference on Advanced Polymer Materials and Nanotechnology, December 15-17, 2012, Pune, India. p. 42.

Technical Abstract: The conversion of plant oils to polymers has attracted renewed attention in recent years to replace or augment the traditional petrochemical-based polymers and resins. This is because of concern for the environment, waste disposal, and depletion of fossil and non-renewable feedstocks. Usually, polymers obtained from agricultural raw materials are biodegradable and inexpensive. Here we report polymerization of plant oils, such as soybean oil, euphorbia oil, jojoba oil, and epoxidized soybean oil in carbon dioxide media (liquid and supercritical condition) catalyzed by Lewis acid. The resulted polymers were characterized by FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, solid state 13C-NMR spectroscopies, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The application of these functionalized polymers will be explored.