Tuning the optical clarity of glass fiber‐reinforced polycarbonates by reactive blending with alternatives from biorenewable isosorbide

Abstract

Optically transparent and mechanically strong glass fiber (GF)‐reinforced polycarbonate (PC) composites were fabricated via reacting with biorenewable isosorbide (ISB) moiety. While direct copolymerization of ISB and bisphenol A (BPA) by melt transesterification with diphenyl carbonate remained difficult due to the large discrepancy of reactivity and low thermal stability of ISB, we demonstrated in this work that ISB and BPA copolycarbonates with high molecular weight, low discoloration, and excellent optical transparency can be fabricated at 250 °C within 2.5 min by reactive blending of commercially available ISB‐based PC and BPA‐PC. A systematic study of synthesis, thermal degradation, and reactive blending of ISB‐containing PCs was performed to distinguish the reactivity between ISB and BPA, elucidate the effect of catalyst on chain scission, and testify the reaction mechanism of the unexpected asymmetrical inner–inner carbonate exchange. We clarified that the hydroxyl group on BPA exhibited a low reactivity and Lewis acid‐catalytic transesterification played a key role in preventing from the chain scission during the asymmetrical inner–inner exchange. Another unexpected factor that effectively suppressed the further chain scission was the miscibility of the ISB‐based PC with BPA‐PC once each chain on average was carbonate exchanged with its counterpart to form a “biblock” PC. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1670–1681

Cost-Effective Synthesis of High Molecular Weight Biobased Polycarbonate via Melt Polymerization of Isosorbide and Dimethyl Carbonate

“…As is well-known, conventional PC is synthesized from diphenyl carbonate (DPC) and BPA, and both of them are derived from petroleum and have chronic toxicity. − Compared with PC synthesized by BPA monomer, poly­(isosorbide carbonate) (PIC) is not only green and nontoxic but also has superior optical properties and outstanding resistance to scratch and heat. , At present, synthesis of PIC by melt polycondensation of ISB and DPC has aroused widespread attention; however, substituting DPC by dimethyl carbonate (DMC) would be more ideal from a perspective of green chemistry. The reasons are as follows.…”

Design and Synthesis of Optical Biobased Polycarbonates with High Refractive Index and Low Birefringence

“…It is worth noting that Abbe’s number decreased with the increase of the DAQ content, resulting from the increasing refractive index. For optical polymeric materials, it was a general trend that high refractive index materials had a relatively low Abbe’s number. , On the other hand, the important feature of PIC as an optical material was its excellent transparency . As shown in Table and Figure S25, the transmittance of most PIC and PIDCs was close to 90%, indicating that the introduction of DAQ was a good strategy, which not only improved the refractive index and birefringence of PC but also preserved the high transmittance characteristics of PIC.…”

Digital Light Processing 3D Printing of Gyroid Scaffold with Isosorbide-Based Photopolymer for Bone Tissue Engineering

“…CSMA-2 was successfully synthesised by following the previous methods [ 14 , 15 ]. The final result of the synthesis was a clear, viscous mixture, which was expected from copolymerising Isosorbide [ 19 ]. This optically transparent mixture enables polymerisation via a light cure.…”

“…It is inexpensive, non-toxic, and has been incorporated into materials such as polycarbonates, polyamides, and polyurethane via step-growth polymerisation [ 18 ]. Good optical clarity makes isosorbide suitable as a monomer for a 3D printing photopolymer [ 18 , 19 ]. Light-cured, isosorbide-based CSMA-2 has been reported to have mechanical properties similar to human cancellous bone and was non-toxic to MG63 cell lines [ 14 , 15 ].…”