Synthesis and molecular characterization of chitosan based polyurethane elastomers using aromatic diisocyanate

The present research work was performed to synthesize a new series of chitosan based polyurethane elastomers (PUEs) using poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL). The chitosan based PUEs were prepared by step-growth polymerization technique using poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI). In the second step the PU prepolymer was extended with different mole ratios of chitosan and 1,4-butane diol (BDO). Molecular engineering was carried out during the synthesis. The conventional spectroscopic characterization of the synthesized samples using FT-IR confirms the existence of the proposed chitosan based PUEs structure. Internal morphology of the prepared PUEs was studied using SEM analysis. The SEM images confirmed the incorporation of chitosan molecules into the PU backbone. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.