Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2023
Publication Date: 8/13/2023
Citation: Liu, Z. 2023. Natural epoxy oil (Euphorbia Oil) polymerization in liquid carbon dioxide-green media [abstract]. American Chemical Society Fall Meeting & Exposition: Harnessing the Power of Data, August 13-17, 2023, San Francisco, CA.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Vegetable oils possess renewable advantages with non-toxic, non-polluting, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly properties. Due to these properties, vegetable oils have been used in a variety of industrial applications, such as plastics, lubricants, adhesives, fuels/biodiesel, coatings, printing inks, varnish solvents, and surfactants. Many researchers have reported the production of biodegradable polymers from vegetable oils, specifically from epoxidized soybean oil (ESO). However, ESO must be synthesized using conventional synthetic routes because some of the synthesized epoxide rings can degrade during the process. A plant oil with an epoxidized ring has been investigated to overcome this shortcoming. One such plant oil is euphorbia oil (EuO). This report discusses the ring-opening polymerization of EuO in liquid carbon dioxide-green solvent using boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF3·OEt2) as catalyst. A variety of analytical techniques have been used to characterize the materials, including FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Using subcritical carbon dioxide (CO2) and pressure of 65.5 bar, the ring-opening polymerization of euphorbia oil (RPEuO) occurred under mild conditions, such as at room temperature. It was found that the cross-linked polymers of RPEuO had glass transition temperatures ranging from -15.0°C to -22.7°C. RPEuO polymers were thermally stable below 220°C, and decomposition occurred above 340°C, according to TGA results.