Aromatic polyesters from biosuccinic acid

Succinic acid, a promising biobased platform chemical, was used as a precursor to synthesize the aromatic monomers 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid and 2,5-dimethoxyterephthalic acid. Two copolymer series were generated with linear diol comonomers, HO(CH2)(n)OH, of varying length with n = 2-10. For polyalkylene dihydroxyterephthalates, the glass transition temperature (T-g) ranged from 36 to 168 degrees C. For polyalkylene dimethoxyterephthalates, the T-g ranged from 6 to 74 degrees C.