Triblock Copoly(ester-ether)s from biobased monomers towards sustainable packaging F. Kilens 1,2 , A.P. Dove 3 , H. Sardon 2 , C. Jehanno 1,2 1 Polykey Polymers,Joxe Mari Korta Center, Spain, 2 Polymat,University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain, 3 School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, UK Aliphatic polyether polyols are polymeric intermediates largely used in the industry. A recent advance in their synthesis involved a straightforward process where polyether polyols are obtained through the self‑condensation of the corresponding diol, expanding the scope to a wide range of new structures and applications. 1 In the present work, amorphous, semi-crystalline and highly-crystalline polyether polyols are synthesised from three biobased diols, namely 1,6-hexanediol, 1,3-propanediol and 1,4‑cyclohexanedimethanol, with molecular weight ranging from 500 to 8000 g·mol -1 . These polyether polyols are used as macro‑initiators in the subsequent ring‑opening polymerisation (ROP) of l-lactide (LLA) to prepare a triblock copoly(ester-ether) (coPEE), namely a poly(l‑lactide)- b -polyether polyol‑ b ‑poly(l‑lactide). The formation of an ABA copolymer system where the polyether polyol is used as a soft B middle block and poly(l‑lactide) (PLLA) as hard A blocks brings interesting features in term of thermal and mechanical properties when compared to the neat PLLA. For instance, inserting up to 30wt% of the highly crystalline poly(1,6-hexanediol) in the copolymer leads to a certain degree of phase compatibility where both the glass transition ( T g ) and melting temperature ( T m ) of the PLLA are moderately affected. By contrast, using an amorphous poly(1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol) as middle block is more likely to lead to a decrease in T g and bring flexibility. Overall, triblock coPEE made of polyether polyol and LLA with tunable thermal and mechanical properties can be of great interest for specific packaging application while meeting the growing need of biosourced and biodegradable plastics. References 1. Basterretxea, A.; Gabirondo, E.; Jehanno, C.; Zhu, H.; Flores, I.; Müller, A. J.; Etxeberria, A.; Mecerreyes, D.; Coulembier, O.; Sardon, H. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2019 , 7 (4), 4103–4111.
P31
© The Author(s), 2023
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog