Thiol-ene biobased networks: Furan allyl derivatives for green coating applications

Biomass feedstocks are playing a crucial role toward the development of new sustainable materials with the aim to replace the fossil-based ones limiting the emissions and waste. Among the other, cellulose, and hemicellulose are gaining interest as a source of new bio-based building blocks such as furan derivatives. In this study, two furan derivatives were selected as bio-based monomers to design four innovative UV-curable coatings. Specif-ically, 2,5-Furandimethanol (FDM), and cis-cyclobutane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid (CBDA-2) derived from Fur-ylacrylic acid were modified by allylation of their respective OH groups. The bis allyl derivatives were combined with commercial tris-and tetra-functional thiols compounds and cured by means of UV-light through a thiol-ene reaction. The UV-curing was deeply investigated by means of real-time FT-IR, photo-DSC and photorheology. Successively, the bio-based thermosets were characterized by DMTA and tensile test to examine the thermal -mechanical behavior. The results indicated comparable properties with previous studied bio-based thiol-ene thermoset raising the possibility to use the studied material for coating applications.

Automated summary

This study focuses on the development of UV-curable coatings using biomass feedstocks as a replacement for fossil-based materials. By modifying furan derivatives, two bio-based monomers were designed and combined with thiol compounds for UV-curing. The resulting bio-based thermosets exhibited comparable properties to previously studied materials, indicating their potential for coating applications.