Abbasoglu Tansu, Ciardi Diego, Tournilhac Francois, Irusta Lourdes, Sardon Haritz
POLYMAT, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Joxe Mari Korta Center, Avda. Tolosa 72, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
Molecular, Macromolecular Chemistry,and Materials, CNRS, ESPCI-Paris, PSL Research University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Oct 26;62(44):e202308339. doi: 10.1002/anie.202308339. Epub 2023 Sep 19.
Polymeric foams are widely used in many industrial applications due to their light weight and superior thermal, mechanical, and optical properties. Currently, increasing research efforts is being directed towards the development of greener foam formulations that circumvent the use of isocyanates/blowing agents that are commonly used in the production of foam materials. Here, a straightforward, one-pot method is presented to prepare self-blown polycarbonate (PC) foams by exploiting the (decarboxylative) S-alkylation reaction for in situ generation of the blowing agent (CO ). The concomitant formation of a reactive alcohol intermediate promotes a cascade ring-opening polymerization of the cyclic carbonates to yield a cross-linked polymer network. It is shown that these hydroxyl-functionalized polycarbonate-based foams can be easily recycled into films through thermal compression molding. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that complete hydrolytic degradation of the foams is possible, thus offering the potential for zero-waste materials. This straightforward and versatile process broadens the scope of isocyanate-free, self-foaming materials, opening a new pathway for next-generation environmentally friendly foams.
聚合物泡沫由于其重量轻以及优异的热、机械和光学性能而广泛应用于许多工业领域。目前，越来越多的研究致力于开发更环保的泡沫配方，以避免使用泡沫材料生产中常用的异氰酸酯/发泡剂。在此，提出了一种简单的一锅法，通过利用（脱羧）S-烷基化反应原位生成发泡剂（CO）来制备自发泡聚碳酸酯（PC）泡沫。反应生成的活性醇中间体促进环状碳酸酯的级联开环聚合，从而生成交联聚合物网络。结果表明，这些羟基官能化的聚碳酸酯基泡沫可以通过热压成型轻松回收成薄膜。此外，还证明了泡沫完全水解降解是可能的，从而为零废物材料提供了潜力。这种简单通用的工艺拓宽了无异氰酸酯自发泡材料的范围，为下一代环保泡沫开辟了新途径。
