Facile Room-Temperature Preparation of Flexible Polyurethane Foams from Carbon Dioxide Based Poly(ether carbonate) Polyols with a Reduced Generation of Acetaldehyde

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is becoming more attractive as a renewable feedstock for chemical synthesis. In this study, CO 2 was incorporated into poly(ether carbonate) (PEC) polyols by using a double-metal-cyanide catalyst. By adjusting the CO 2 pressure, the content of propylene carbonate units in the PEC polyols was controlled, indicating successful and semiquantitative incorporation of CO 2 into the PEC polyols. Polyurethane foams (PUFs) with different propylene carbonate content were easily prepared at room temperature by employing the PEC polyols due to their adequate viscosity under ambient conditions. The firmness of the PUFs increased as the amount of propylene carbonate units increased due to the rigidity of the carbonate linkage, representing predictable mechanical properties. Interestingly, reduced generation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the PUFs, namely acetaldehyde, was observed with a high content of propylene carbonate units at 120 °C, indicating good stability of the carbonate units against thermo-oxidative decomposition. This study demonstrates the importance of CO 2 as an environmental-friendly and renewable resource that can provide not only industrially important but also problem-solving products in terms of processability and low generation of VOCs.

Carbon dioxide copolymers: Emerging sustainable materials for versatile applications

“…The composition is nowadays able to be tuned in a wide range by raising the activity of catalyst under suitable selection of protic CTA and control over reaction conditions. Especially, the Zo‐Co DMC catalyst allows CU% adjustment from Ca .15 to 65% (CO 2 content in CO 2 ‐polyol of 10‐33 wt%), while the Co salen catalyst allows the synthesis of polycarbonate polyols with negligible ether ratio, affording manifold applications such as foams (low CO 2 content), 143 adhesives (medium CO 2 content), 54 and thermoplastics (high CO 2 content) 144 . However, the current control over composition is not precise enough and upon a great compromise on reduced catalytic efficiency.…”

Net Zero and Catalysis: How Neutrons Can Help

“…The physical properties of these materials limit their application to specialty polymers. A more recent development is the production of poly(ether carbonates) with the use of a different catalyst system [141,142], Figure 10b. Life cycle analysis [143] shows that the polymers still generate greenhouse gas emissions, but less so than conventional routes.…”

Exovinylene Cyclic Carbonates: Multifaceted CO2‐Based Building Blocks for Modern Chemistry and Polymer Science

“…to construct carbamates, key intermediates for the pharmaceutical and agroindustries) [11] and polymer design (e.g. polyols used to formulate polyurethane foams), [12][13][14] as solvents and electrolytes for batteries. [11] Three main routes are implemented to prepare cyclic carbonates by the direct reaction of CO 2 with a substrate (Scheme 1).…”