Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Polymer and Dye Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 16, 90-537 Lodz, Poland.
Molecules. 2022 Mar 29;27(7):2214. doi: 10.3390/molecules27072214.
Silica is a popular filler, but in epoxidized natural rubber, can act as a cross-linking agent. Unfortunately, a high amount of silica is necessary to obtain satisfactory tensile strength. Moreover, a high amount of silica in ENR/silica hybrids is associated with low elongation at break. In our paper, we propose natural phenolic compounds, including quercetin, tannic acid, and gallic acid as natural and safe additional crosslinkers dedicated to ENR/silica hybrids to obtain bio-elastomers with improved mechanical properties. Therefore, toxic crosslinkers, such as peroxides or harmful accelerators can be eliminated. The impact of selected natural phenolic compounds on crosslinking effect, mechanical properties, color, and chemical structure of ENR/silica composite have been analyzed. The obtained results indicated that only 3 phr of selected natural phenolic compounds is able to improve crosslinking effect as well as mechanical properties of ENR/silica hybrids. Moreover, some of the prepared materials tend to regain mechanical properties after reprocessing. Such materials containing only natural and safe ingredients have a chance of becoming novel elastomeric biomaterials dedicated to biomedical applications.
二氧化硅是一种常用的填充剂，但在环氧化天然橡胶中，它可以充当交联剂。不幸的是，为了获得令人满意的拉伸强度，需要大量的二氧化硅。此外，ENR/二氧化硅杂化物中大量的二氧化硅与低断裂伸长率有关。在我们的论文中，我们提出了天然酚类化合物，包括槲皮素、鞣酸和没食子酸，作为天然和安全的额外交联剂，用于 ENR/二氧化硅杂化物，以获得具有改善机械性能的生物弹性体。因此，可以消除诸如过氧化物或有害促进剂之类的有毒交联剂。分析了所选天然酚类化合物对交联效应、机械性能、颜色和 ENR/二氧化硅复合材料化学结构的影响。所得结果表明，仅 3 phr 的所选天然酚类化合物就能够改善 ENR/二氧化硅杂化物的交联效果和机械性能。此外，一些制备的材料在重新加工后有恢复机械性能的趋势。这些仅含有天然和安全成分的材料有可能成为专门用于生物医学应用的新型弹性体生物材料。
