Thermosetting Allyl Resins Derived from Soybean Oil
(7149–7157) Macromolecules 44 #18 (2011)
Luo et al of Pittsburgh State University, Kansas, prepared a new class of biopolymers based on plant oils with allylic double bonds from vegetable oils by oxirane ring-opening.  The main side reactions during ring-opening were formation of intramolecular cyclic ethers in epoxidized linoleic fatty ester and oligomerization.  Side reactions in the epoxidized oleic fatty ester were insignificant.  Allyl alcohol ring-opened epoxidized soybean oil (AESBO) was then copolymerized with maleic anhydride (MA) to prepare thermosetting resins by free radical polymerization and esterification.  In the best case, high gel content (99%), low water absorption (1%), and low swelling ration in toluene (4%) were achieved.  Glass transition temperatures of these resins ranged from below room temperature to about 123 °C depending on the loading of MA. Tensile modulus varied from few MPa to 1.1 GPa, with the highest tensile strength of 29 MPa.  (RDC 10/5/2011)