Howell Bob A
Science of Advanced Materials, Center for Applications in Polymer Science, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, United States.
Front Chem. 2024 Nov 1;12:1500782. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1500782. eCollection 2024.
Polymeric materials have been a great boon to the development and wellbeing of mankind. However, in the main, these materials are flammable and must be flame retarded for most applications. Many substances have been utilized to impart a measure of flame retardancy. The most widely used and most effective have been organic: organohalogen and organophosphorus compounds. Organohalogen compounds have been popular, low-cost, very effective flame retardants for polymeric materials. However, with the recognition that these compounds readily migrate from a polymer matrix into which they have been incorporated, persist in the environment and pose serious risks to human health, the use of organophosphorus compounds has become prominent. In particular, organophosphorus compounds of appropriate structure derived from readily-available, renewable, low-cost, non-toxic biobased precursors are attractive. Avoidance of the issues of environmental persistence and toxicity associated with organohalogen compounds is possible with these materials. Migration from a polymer matrix may be removed as a deficiency through the use of reactive compounds, i.e., compounds that may be incorporated directly into the polymer structure either by copolymerization or grafting, or oligomeric compounds. Oligomeric materials of branched structure display characteristics of broad compatibility, high effectiveness and lack of migration.
聚合物材料对人类的发展和福祉大有裨益。然而，总体而言，这些材料具有可燃性，在大多数应用中必须进行阻燃处理。许多物质已被用于赋予一定程度的阻燃性。使用最广泛且最有效的是有机化合物：有机卤素和有机磷化合物。有机卤素化合物一直是用于聚合物材料的常用、低成本且非常有效的阻燃剂。然而，随着人们认识到这些化合物容易从它们所掺入的聚合物基体中迁移出来，在环境中持久存在并对人类健康构成严重风险，有机磷化合物的使用变得突出。特别是，由容易获得、可再生、低成本、无毒的生物基前体衍生而来的具有适当结构的有机磷化合物很有吸引力。使用这些材料可以避免与有机卤素化合物相关的环境持久性和毒性问题。聚合物基体的迁移问题可以通过使用反应性化合物（即可以通过共聚或接枝直接掺入聚合物结构中的化合物）或低聚化合物来消除。具有支化结构的低聚材料具有广泛的相容性、高效性和不迁移的特性。
