Generation of Novel Polymers and Surfactants from Renewable Resources

This research study aimed at using renewable resources from biomass to generate novel polymers and surfactants for applications in Home and Personal Care products. Esterification, transesterification, epoxidation and ring opening reactions were applied with the instrumentality of clean synthetic techniques to deliver over sixty nonionic surfactants with main hydrophilic head containing 9-34 units of ethylene oxide (EO) and hydrophobic tail containing C19-28 hydrocarbons from oleate derivatives, epoxidised linseed oil and sophorolipid. The surfactants were fully characterised with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, super-critical fluid chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. Surfactants properties were assessed based on physicochemical measurements and hydrophilic-lipophilic balance. The synthesised polymeric surfactants have great potential applications ranging from oil-in water emulsification, wetting and spreading, detergency and to solubilisation purposes, and can be incorporated into Home and Personal Care products.
Alongside the above study, attempts were made to convert 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid to diethyl terephthalate as a step to making 100% bio-based poly(ethylene terephthalate), and vital plastic packaging for Home and Personal Care formulations. The bio-based aromatic monomer was synthesised via Diels-Alder addition of diester of the furan to ethene under a solventless system catalysed by in-expensive heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysts. DET yield up to 59% was obtained, this being a substantial improvement compared to yields for the same or similar reaction of FDCA and its esters reported elsewhere. The synthetic route herein described was compared with other published biomass routes to bio-based PET using green chemistry metric toolkits, and ours stands as the preferred biomass route based on this comprehensive assessment.