Issue 1, 2015

Renewable polycarbonates and polyesters from 1,4-cyclohexadiene

Abstract

Epoxides derived from 1,4-cyclohexadiene (CHD), the latter produced from renewable resources via self-metathesis of plant oil derivatives, are applied as key substrates in ring-opening copolymerizations to produce aliphatic polycarbonates and polyesters. Renewable, unsaturated polycarbonates are prepared by the ring-opening copolymerization of epoxide/CO2; these are catalysed by di-zinc/magnesium complexes previously reported by Williams et al. or by using chromium(III) or cobalt(III) salen complexes. Renewable, unsaturated polyesters, with glass transition temperatures up to 128 °C, were obtained by the ring-opening copolymerization of epoxide/phthalic anhydride. The relative rates of these copolymerizations were monitored using in situ attenuated total reflectance infra-red (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. The polymers were fully characterized using spectroscopy (nuclear magnetic resonance, infra-red), mass spectrometry (matrix assisted laser desorption ionization), and by thermal methods (differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis).

Graphical abstract: Renewable polycarbonates and polyesters from 1,4-cyclohexadiene

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 jul 2014
Accepted
26 aug 2014
First published
12 sep 2014
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Green Chem., 2015,17, 300-306

Author version available

Renewable polycarbonates and polyesters from 1,4-cyclohexadiene

M. Winkler, C. Romain, M. A. R. Meier and C. K. Williams, Green Chem., 2015, 17, 300 DOI: 10.1039/C4GC01353K

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