Synthesis of hyperbranched polymers from vegetable oil based monomers via ozonolysis pathway

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this work, a variety of hyperbranched polymers (HBPs), such as hyperbranched polycarbonates, polyesters, polyurethanes and polyacetals, was successfully synthesized from castor oil and soybean oil based monomers via a A 2 + B 3 polycondensation. First, B 3 monomer triols (TriOL), trialdehydes (TriAD), and tricarboxylic acids (TriAC) were obtained by ozonolysis of castor oil and soybean oil with following reductive or oxidative treatment. Their structures were characterized by 1 H NMR and ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy as well as electrospray ionization‐Time of Flight‐mass spectrometry. These trifunctional B 3 monomers were applied in the preparation of HBPs. The resulting HBPs had number averaged molar mass ( M n ) up to 9400 g/mol and weight averaged molar mass ( M w ) up to 40,000 g/mol. Through adjusting the initial molar ratio of A 2 to B 3 monomers, hydroxyl terminated (from TriOL monomers) or carboxylic acid (from TriAC monomers) terminated HBPs could be obtained. All the HBPs were characterized by 1 H NMR, size exclusion chromatography, and DSC. These HBPs are potential candidates for the synthesis of cross‐linked polymeric materials or in biomedical applications. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 2104–2114