Quaternarization and polymerization of 2-chloroethyl maleate derivative of epoxidized soybean oil

As a potent antibacterial, antifungal or antiviral material, synthesis of quaternarized epoxidized soybean oil was demonstrated in this work. The first step of the synthesis is the reaction of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with 2-chloroethyl maleic acid (Cl-MA-ESO). The last step is quaternarization of this condensate with triethylamine (Q-MA-ESO). All the synthesized monomers were characterized by FTIR and ¹H NMR techniques. Homopolymer of the quaternarized derivative (Q-MA-ESO) was not obtained. However, styrene copolymers were obtained and characterized. Thermal properties of the copolymers were determined by TGA and DSC techniques. Additionally, swelling properties of the materials were also evaluated. The highest swelling ratio was observed in toluene.