Simple and Efficient Approach toward Photosensitive Biobased Aliphatic Polycarbonate Materials

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Organic Synthesis

Background:

• Fatty acids serve as sustainable precursors for polymer synthesis.
• Developing efficient methods for photosensitive polymer synthesis is crucial for advanced materials.
• Multistep syntheses can be inefficient and costly.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a straightforward synthesis of photosensitive polycarbonate monomers.
• To functionalize polycarbonates with photoresponsive moieties.
• To investigate the tunable properties of the resulting functionalized polycarbonates.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a fatty acid-based cyclic carbonate monomer with unsaturation.
• Controlled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of the monomer.
• One-pot synthesis and grafting of a thio-cinnamate derivative via thiol-ene reaction.

Main Results:

• A fatty acid-based cyclic carbonate monomer was successfully synthesized.
• Controlled polymerization yielded polycarbonate with low dispersity (Đ = 1.07).
• Tunable grafting of photoresponsive cinnamoyl groups onto the polycarbonate backbone was achieved.
• UV irradiation (365 nm) induced crosslinking, while irradiation (254 nm) allowed partial decrosslinking.

Conclusions:

• A facile and efficient method for synthesizing photosensitive polycarbonates from fatty acids was established.
• The synthesized polycarbonates exhibit tunable photoresponsive crosslinking and decrosslinking capabilities.
• These materials offer versatile properties, transitioning between tough and elastomeric networks based on photosensitive moiety content.