Synthesis of 3D-printable xanthate and acrylate-based resins from glycerol

Abstract

Polymers have been used for a long time, this happens due to the versatility of these materials making them essential to daily life. The increasing of the consume of these materials and also the demand for the use of renewable raw materials in their production encourage the studies and development of new biopolymers and processes to obtain them that can be more economically viable. In this context, the structural modification of renewable sources such as vegetable oils, terpenes, and glycerol to produce monomers that can be polymerized using photopolymerization, is a good way to produce biopolymers with unique shapes (as those produced by using 3D printing). In this sense, glycerol a byproduct from biodiesel production, appears as a potentially cheap and renewable raw material, for the development of inputs and sustainable monomers to produce polymers using several techniques of polymerization, as in XPI-RAFT polymerization for example. Then, to produce a renewable monomer, the present work will use glycerol to produce an acrylic monomer using the Amberlite IR120 as a heterogeneous catalyst. Furthermore, glycerol will be used as a precursor in the production of a xanthate which will be used as a photo-iniferter (XPI) in the RAFT photopolymerization reaction eliminating the necessity of using a photoinitiator. The resins produced will be used in a 3D printer to obtain tridimensional materials. The studies of conversion of the polymerization reaction will be determined using Resonance magnetic nuclear spectroscopy (1H-RMN). The precursors and final product will be characterized by Mid-infrared spectroscopy analysis (MIR), 1H-RMN, Size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC), and Ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV-Vis). (AU)