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Vegetable oils as a source of raw materials for bio-based acrylamide polymers Copy
A British research team has developed a method for directly producing functional acrylamide monomers from vegetable oils and successfully processing them using RAFT polymerisation. The sustainable synthesis route paves the way for new bio-based polymers with a controlled structure and versatile thermal properties.
A team of researchers led by Fiona L. Hatton from Loughborough University presents a new synthesis pathway for bio-based polymers based on fatty acids. Hydrophobic acrylamide monomers were obtained from four different vegetable oils – including high oleic sunflower oil and hydrogenated coconut oil – by base-catalysed transesterification with N-hydroxyethylacrylamide. The focus was on optimising the reaction conditions and avoiding reactive by-products that can arise during the isolation of the monomers.
Through extensive kinetic investigations, the researchers identified impurities such as radical inhibitors and unwanted co-monomers in the raw product fraction, especially after the more environmentally friendly brine washing. While the saturated monomers from hydrogenated oils could be successfully polymerised without further purification, unsaturated monomers required more extensive purification using column chromatography to enable controlled RAFT polymerisation.
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Customised thermoplastics with a plant-based character
The synthesised polymers had molar masses between 3,000 and 12,000 g/mol and, depending on the vegetable oil, were amorphous or partially crystalline. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) were between -1 and 33 °C, the melting temperatures (Tm) between 48 and 66 °C. This opens up a wide range of applications – from soft, elastic materials to more thermally stable structures.
This work marks the first successful RAFT polymerisation directly from plant-based starting materials using single-stage transesterification. The study shows the potential for producing bio-based polymers with a defined structure from renewable raw materials – an important step towards sustainable coating systems.
Source: Polymer Chemistry, Issue 12, 2025, DOI: 10.1039/d4py01442f
