Novel bio-polybutadiene polymers with controlled molecular weight (MW), MW distribution, chemical composition and micro structure were synthesized by a living anionic polymerization of butadiene and the subsequent coupling reaction of the thus obtaine...
Novel bio-polybutadiene polymers with controlled molecular weight (MW), MW distribution, chemical composition and micro structure were synthesized by a living anionic polymerization of butadiene and the subsequent coupling reaction of the thus obtained living polybutadiene and a vegetable oil. Anionic polymerization of butadiene was carried out in THF solvent using n-BuLi initiator. The resulting living polybutadienyllithium polymer was then reacted with epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) to obtain a star-polymer of polybutadiene and vegitable oil. Three different bio-elastomers were prepared by coupling living polybutadienes of MWs 1000, 5000 and 1000g/mol with ESO. The molecular structure and MW of the polybutadienes and bioelastomers were characterized by 1H-NMR, FTIR and GPC techniques.