title: Oxypropylation of cork and the use of the ensuing polyols in polyurethane formulations.
abstract: Cork particles, recovered as byproducts of the processing of this natural material, were oxypropylated under pressure and relatively high temperature in the presence of KOH as catalyst. Various parameters were explored in order to assess the most suitable conditions, which led to the almost complete conversion of the solid cork into a viscous polyol. This product was a mixture of oxypropylated cork macromolecules and propylene oxide oligomers, which were thoroughly characterized. The use of these polyols as macromonomers in the synthesis of polyurethane foams gave promising results, thus showing that it should be possible to exploit the residues of this important renewable resource to manufacture original materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evtiouguina
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barros-Timmons
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cruz-Pinto
authors.forename: C Pascoal
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Belgacem
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gandini
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000737:chemistry; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018514:Plant Structures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D011108:Polymers; D011140:Polyurethanes; C024617:polyol; C028279:polyurethane foam; C013658:propylene