Solvent- and Halogen-Free Modification of Biobased Polyphenols to Introduce Vinyl Groups: Versatile Aromatic Building Blocks for Polymer Synthesis

From Lignins to Renewable Aromatic Vitrimers based on Vinylogous Urethane

During the two last decades, covalent adaptable networks (CANs) have proven to be an important new class of polymer materials combining the main advantages of thermoplastics and thermosets. For instance, materials can undergo reprocessing cycles by incorporating dynamic covalent bonds within a cross-linked network. Due to their versatility, renewable resources can be easily integrated into these innovative systems to develop sustainable materials, which can be related to the context of the recent development of a circular bioeconomy. Lignins, the main renewable sources of aromatic structures, are major candidates in the design of novel and biobased stimuli-responsive materials such as vitrimers due to their high functionality and specific chemical architectures. In the aim of developing recyclable lignin-based vinylogous urethane (VU) networks, an innovative strategy was elaborated in which lignin was first modified into liquid polyols and then into polyacetoacetates. Resulting macromonomers were integrated into aromatic VU networks and fully characterized through thermal, mechanical, and rheological experiments. Viscoelastic behaviors of the different aromatic vitrimers exhibited fast stress-relaxations (e. g., 39 s at 130 °C) allowing easy and fast mechanical reprocessing. A thermomechanical recycling study was successfully performed. Then, the developed strategy enabled the fabrication of healable biobased aromatic vitrimers with tunable structures and properties.

Effect of Molecular Organization on the Properties of Fractionated Lignin-Based Thiol-Ene Thermoset Materials

In this study, the combination of sequential solvent fractionation of technical Kraft lignin was followed by allylation of most OH functionalities to give highly functional thermoset resins. All lignin fractions were highly functionalized on the phenolic (≥95%) and carboxylic acid OH (≥85%) and to a significant extent on the aliphatic OH moieties (between 43 and 75%). The resins were subsequently cross-linked using thiol-ene chemistry. The high amount of allyl functionalities resulted in a high cross-link density. Dynamic mechanical analysis measurements showed that the thioether content, directly related to the allyl content, strongly affects the performance of these thermosets with a glass transition temperature (T_g) between 81 and 95 °C and with a storage modulus between 1.9 and 3.8 GPa for all thermosets. The lignin fractions and lignin-based thermosets' morphology, at the nanoscale, was studied by wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements. Two π-π stacking interactions were observed: sandwich (≈4.1-4.7 Å) and T-shaped (≈5.5-7.2 Å). The introduction of allyl functionalities weakens the T-shaped π-π stacking interactions. A new signal corresponding to a distance of ≈3.5 Å was observed in lignin-based thermosets, which was attributed to a thioether organized structure. At the same time, a lignin superstructure was observed with a distance/size corresponding to 7.9-17.5 Å in all samples.

Functional Lignin Building Blocks: Reactive Vinyl Esters with Acrylic Acid

Introducing vinyl groups onto the backbone of technical lignin provides an opportunity to create highly reactive renewable polymers suitable for radical polymerization. In this work, the chemical modification of softwood kraft lignin was pursued with etherification, followed by direct esterification with acrylic acid (AA). In the first step, phenolic hydroxyl and carboxylic acid groups were derivatized into aliphatic hydroxyl groups using ethylene carbonate and an alkaline catalyst. The lignin was subsequently fractionated using a downward precipitation method to recover lignin of defined molar mass and solubility. After recovery, the resulting material was then esterified with AA, resulting in lignin with vinyl functional groups. The first step resulted in approximately 90% of phenolic hydroxyl groups being converted into aliphatic hydroxyls, while the downward fractionation resulted in three samples of lignin with defined molar masses. For the esterification reaction, the weight ratio of reagents, reaction temperature, and reaction time were evaluated as factors that would influence the modification efficacy. ¹³C NMR spectroscopy analysis of lignin samples before and after esterification showed that the optimized reaction conditions could reach approximately 40% substitution of aliphatic hydroxyl groups. Both steps only used lignin and the modifying reagent (no solvent), with the possibility of recovery and reuse of the reagent by dilution and distillation. An additional second esterification step of the resulting lignin sample with acetic acid or propionic acid converted 90% of remaining hydroxyl groups into short-chain carbon aliphatic esters, making a hydrophobic material suitable for further copolymerization with synthetic hydrophobic monomers.

Lignin as a Renewable Building Block for Sustainable Polyurethanes

Currently, the pulp and paper industry generates around 50-70 million tons of lignin annually, which is mainly burned for energy recovery. Lignin, being a natural aromatic polymer rich in functional hydroxyl groups, has been drawing the interest of academia and industry for its valorization, especially for the development of polymeric materials. Among the different types of polymers that can be derived from lignin, polyurethanes (PUs) are amid the most important ones, especially due to their wide range of applications. This review encompasses available technologies to isolate lignin from pulping processes, the main approaches to convert solid lignin into a liquid polyol to produce bio-based polyurethanes, the challenges involving its characterization, and the current technology assessment. Despite the fact that PUs derived from bio-based polyols, such as lignin, are important in contributing to the circular economy, the use of isocyanate is a major environmental hot spot. Therefore, the main strategies that have been used to replace isocyanates to produce non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) derived from lignin are also discussed.

Isolation of Low Dispersity Fractions of Acetone Organosolv Lignins to Understand their Reactivity: Towards Aromatic Building Blocks for Polymers Synthesis

Two organosolv lignins extracted during pilot runs of the Fabiola process were analyzed, fractionated and chemically modified with ethylene carbonate (EC) to produce building blocks suitable for polymer synthesis. Isolation of low dispersity fractions relied on the partial solubility of the lignins in organic solvents. Lignins solubility was first evaluated and analyzed with Hansen and Kamlet-Taft solubility parameters, showing a good correlation with the solvents dipolarity/polarizability parameter π*. The results were then used to select a sequence of solvents able to fractionate the lignins into low dispersity fractions of increasing molar masses, which were analyzed by ³¹ P NMR, SEC and DSC. The lignins were then reacted with EC, to convert the phenolic OH groups into primary aliphatic OH groups. The reactivity of the organosolv lignins was high, and milder reaction conditions than previously reported were sufficient to fully convert the phenolic OH groups. A gradual reduction in reactivity with increasing molar mass was evidenced and attributed to reduced solubility of high molar mass fragments in EC. Undesirable crosslinking side reactions were evidenced by SEC, but were efficiently limited thanks to a fine control of the reaction conditions, helping to maximize the benefits of the developed lignin modification with EC.

Lignin-Based Polyurethane: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Polyurethane (PU), as a polymer material with versatile product forms and excellent performance, is used in coatings, elastomers, adhesives, and foams widely. However, the raw materials (polyols and isocyanates) of PU are usually made using petroleum-derived chemicals. With the concern for depletion of petroleum resources and the associated negative impact on the environment, developing technologies that can use renewable raw materials as feedstock has become a research hotspot. Lignin, as an abundant, natural, and renewable organic carbon resource, has been explored as raw material for making polyurethanes because it possesses rich hydroxyl groups on its surface. Meanwhile, compared to vegetable oils, lignin does not compete with food supply and performance of the resulting products is superior. Lignin or modified lignin has been shown to impart the polyurethane material with additional functionalities, such as UV-blocking ability, hydrophobicity, and flame retardancy. However, the utilization of lignin has encountered some challenges, such as product isolation, heterogeneity, aggregation, steric hindrance, and low activity. This paper summarizes recent research progress on utilizing lignin and modified lignin for bio-based polyurethane synthesis with a focus on elastomers and foams. Opportunities and challenges for application of the lignin-based polyurethanes in various fields are also discussed.

Clicking Biobased Polyphenols: A Sustainable Platform for Aromatic Polymeric Materials

Lignin, tannins, and cashew nut shell liquid are considered the main sources of aromatic-based macromolecules. They represent an abundant alternative feedstock for the elaboration of aromatic chemicals and polymers, with a view to replacing some fossil-based fractions. Located in different tissues of plants, these compounds, with a large diversity and structural complexity, have, to date, been considered as byproducts derived from fractionation-separation industrial processes with low added value. In the last decade, the use of click chemistry as a tool for the synthesis of controlled macromolecular architectures has seen much development in fundamental and applied research for a wide range of applications. It could represent a valid solution to overcome the main limitations encountered in the chemical modification of natural sources of chemicals, with an environmentally friendly approach to create new substrates for the development of innovative polymers and materials. After a brief description of the main aromatic biopolymers, including the main extraction techniques, along with their structure and their properties, this Review describes chemical modifications that have mainly been focused on natural polyphenols, with the aim of introducing clickable groups, and their further use for the synthesis of biobased materials and additives. Special emphasis is given to several as-yet unexplored chemical features that could contribute to further fundamental and applied materials science research.

Palladium-Catalyzed Functionalization of Kraft Lignin: Ether Linkages through the Telomerization Reaction

Kraft lignin was efficiently functionalized with octadienyl ether linkages through the palladium-catalyzed telomerization of 1,3-butadiene. Comparison with molecular model substrates assessed the grafting of phenols and alcohols and an optimization study led to up to 69 % conversion of the total number of hydroxyl groups present in lignin. This catalytic study evidenced the partial oxidation of triphenylphosphine into triphenylphosphine oxide and triphenylphosphine sulfide by contaminants present in the industrial grade kraft lignin. The telomerised lignin is a malleable material and a preliminary study of the thermal properties showed a decrease in the glass transition in comparison with the starting material.

Epoxidized soybean oil cured with tannic acid for fully bio-based epoxy resin

Fully bio-based EP thermosets from epoxidized soybean oil and tannic acid were prepared for versatile applications under moderate curing conditions.