Issue 1, 2018

Aluminium-catalyzed terpolymerization of furfuryl glycidyl ether with epichlorohydrin and ethylene oxide: synthesis of thermoreversible polyepichlorohydrin elastomers with furan/maleimide covalent crosslinks

Abstract

By using an alkylaluminium catalyst system i-Bu3Al/H3PO4/1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), the random copolymerization and terpolymerization of furfuryl glycidyl ether (FGE) with epichlorohydrin (ECH) and ethylene oxide (EO) have been achieved for the first time to afford a new family of furan functionalized polyepichlorohydrin elastomers. The composition of the obtained FGE/ECH copolymers, FGE/EO copolymers and FGE/ECH/EO terpolymers coincided with the co-monomer feed ratio, and furan groups could be quantitatively and randomly incorporated into polyepichlorohydrin elastomers. Based on the Diels–Alder (DA) reaction of furan functionalized polyepichlorohydrin elastomers and 4,4′-methylenebis(N-phenylmaleimide), a new series of thermoreversible cross-linked polyepichlorohydrin elastomers was successfully synthesized. These thermoreversible DA cross-linked polyepichlorohydrin elastomers possess mechanical properties that can be tuned by adjusting the content of FGE units in the FGE/ECH/EO terpolymers. The mechanical properties of DA cross-linked polyepichlorohydrin elastomers were significantly better than those of traditional vulcanized polyepichlorohydrin elastomers, and they could be used as a structural material without reinforcing agents. More importantly, the DA cross-linked polyepichlorohydrin elastomers could be remolded and self-healed without loss of performance.

Graphical abstract: Aluminium-catalyzed terpolymerization of furfuryl glycidyl ether with epichlorohydrin and ethylene oxide: synthesis of thermoreversible polyepichlorohydrin elastomers with furan/maleimide covalent crosslinks

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Sep 2017
Accepted
14 Nov 2017
First published
29 Nov 2017

Polym. Chem., 2018,9, 98-107

Aluminium-catalyzed terpolymerization of furfuryl glycidyl ether with epichlorohydrin and ethylene oxide: synthesis of thermoreversible polyepichlorohydrin elastomers with furan/maleimide covalent crosslinks

M. Deng, F. Guo, D. Liao, Z. Hou and Y. Li, Polym. Chem., 2018, 9, 98 DOI: 10.1039/C7PY01516J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements