Facile Solid-State Mechanochemical Synthesis of Eco-Friendly Thermoplastic Polyurethanes and Copolymers Using a Biomass-Derived Furan Diol

Herein, we report a facile, one-pot, green, and solvent-less (solid-state) mechanochemical approach toward the synthesis of eco-friendly polyurethanes (PUs) at room temperature using biomass-derived 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF) combined with vibration milling. This approach is simple, straightforward, and very fast even at room temperature because of the instantaneous energy generated during grinding. BHMF, a biomass-derived monomer, was successfully used to synthesize PUs via ball milling; the resulting PUs have a maximal M-w of 163k and are flexible (T-g = 96 degrees C) and thermally stable (T-d = 197 degrees C). In addition, ball milling enabled the synthesis of PU copolymers with various diols and diamines, resulting in variation of the polymer properties, such as the glass transition temperature (T-g).