Biobased Epoxy Resins from Deconstructed Native Softwood Lignin

The synthesis of novel epoxy resins from lignin hydrogenolysis products is reported. Native lignin in pine wood was depolymerized by mild hydrogenolysis to give an oil product that was reacted with epichlorohydrin to give epoxy prepolymers. These were blended with bisphenol A diglycidyl ether or glycerol diglycidyl ether and cured with diethylenetriamine or isophorone diamine. The key novelty of this work lies in using the inherent properties of the native lignin in preparing new biobased epoxy resins. The lignin-derived epoxy prepolymers could be used to replace 25-75% of the bisphenol A diglycidyl ether equivalent, leading to increases of up to 52% in the flexural modulus and up to 38% in the flexural strength. Improvements in the flexural strength were attributed to the oligomeric products present in the lignin hydrogenolysis oil. These results indicate lignin hydrogenolysis products have potential as sustainable biobased polyols in the synthesis of high performance epoxy resins.