Identifier: TFG:1339
Authors: Beltran Biosca, Ferran
Abstract:
The polymers are organic macromolecules of high molecular weight and with chemical and physical properties of great interest in the present. In the daily life of any person are present. For example, these materials are used in the manufacture of cars and airplanes, in the construction of houses and buildings, in the textile industry for clothes design or in other more sophisticated applications such as Medicine and electronics. Despite their importance, we must improve the polymers production because it is not respectful with the environment. Most of these compounds are derived from non-renewable resources such as oil production therefore their production favors the global warming.For this reason, the latest research related to the new polymers synthesis have been based on the 12 principles of green chemistry. This work is based on the application of the principles of Green Chemistry to polymers chemistry. More concretely, the main objective is to Increase the degradability of a naturally occurring polymer with commercial interest. Taking into account these two aspects, research is based on polylactide (PLA), one of the biopolymers more produced on an industrial scale and with a relatively low degradability of its ester group. In one first stage, a natural origin monomer that has functional groups with easier degradability is synthesized respect esters groups of PLA. The chosen monomer is 2-hexyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-one (DOX), a compound derived from castor oil and with an acetyl group in its chemical structure. In the second stage, it is intended to copolymerize the DOX with the lactide (LA) in order to increase the degradability of the final polymer.
Repositori URV