Cyclic Carbonates and Non-Isocyanate Polyurethanes: CO2 as a Building Block for High-Performance Polymers

The production of commodity plastic is predicted to increase substantially in upcoming decades.¹ Many common plastics are derived from petroleum, which is a finite resource. Because of this, much work has been done to design materials based on sustainable feedstocks.² Carbon dioxide, which is abundantly available, is an appealing source of carbon and is already used in numerous chemical processes.³ In this presentation, the reaction of carbon dioxide with epoxides to form cyclic carbonates will be discussed with an emphasis on application to sustainable non-isocynate polyurethanes (NIPUs).⁴ NIPUs offer advantages over traditional polyurethanes and have a wide variety of applications including films, self-healing materials, and nanocomposites.^5,6,7 Advances in NIPUs are leading toward sustainable alternatives to traditional polyurethanes.

References:

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6. Dong, J.; Liu, B.; Ding, H.; Shi, J.; Liu, N.; Dai, B.; Kim, I. Bio-Based Healable Non-Isocyanate Polyurethanes Driven by the Cooperation of Disulfide and Hydrogen Bonds.Polymer Chemistry 2020, 11 (47), 7524–7532.
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