Brand-new Biomass-based Vinyl Polymers from 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

The synthesis of novel biomass-based vinyl polymers from 5-(hydroxyrnethyl)furfural (HMF) as the starting material was accomplished. HMF or its methylated derivative, 5-(methoxymethyl)furfural was efficiently converted to its vinyl derivative by the Wittig reaction in a solid-liquid phase transfer process, followed by free radical polymerization in a bulk polymerization process. The structures of the obtained vinyl monomers and resulting polymers were confirmed by using NMR spectroscopy, including H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, C-H COSY, and C-H COLOC. Moreover. the resulting polymers were subjected to GPC, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the polymer from 5-methoxymethyl-2-vinylfuran exhibited much better heat resistance than the corresponding polymer without methoxy group.