Novel soy-based thiols and enes were synthesized and characterized. Then, soy-based thiol-ene UV-curable coatings were formulated and their coating physiochemical properties were investigated in detail. The use of biorenewable resources, combined with environmentally friendly UV-curable technology, provides a ''green + green'' solution to the stricter regulations in the coatings industry. Novel soy-based thiols and enes were synthesized through the Lewis acid-catalyzed ring opening reaction of epoxidized soybean oil with multifunctional thiols or hydroxyl functional allyl compounds. FTIR and NMR confirmed the formation of the target compounds. The soy-based thiols and enes were formulated with petrochemicalbased enes and thiols, respectively, to make thiol-ene UV-curable coatings. Typical coating film properties, thermal properties, and photopolymerization kinetics of these coatings were studied. Soy-based thiol-ene coatings having lower functionality thiols and enes have poor UV curability and coating properties, which was attributed to the lower crosslink density. Soybased thiols and enes with higher functionality can be UV-cured in combination with petrochemical-based enes or thiols even without the presence of free radical photoinitiators. Better coating film properties were obtained from these higher functionality thiol-ene systems that were toughened by commercial hyperbranched acrylates.

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Background We performed a study to identify differences in the urinary microbiome associated with chronic allograft dysfunction (CAD) and compared the urinary microbiome of male and female transplant recipients with CAD. Methods This case‐control study enrolled 67 patients within the Deterioration of Kidney Allograft Function (DeKAF) Genomics cohort at two transplant centers. CAD was defined as a greater than 25% rise in serum creatinine relative to a 3 month post‐transplant baseline. Urine samples from patients with and without CAD were analyzed using 16S V4 bacterial ribosomal DNA sequences. Results Corynebacterium was more prevalent in female and male patients with CAD compared to non‐CAD female patients (P = 0.0005). A total 21 distinct Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTUs) were identified as significantly different when comparing CAD and non‐CAD patients using Kruskal‐Wallis (P < 0.01). A subset analysis of female patients with CAD compared to non‐CAD females identified similar differentially abundant OTUs, including the genera Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus (Kruskal‐Wallis; P = 0.01; P = 0.004, respectively). Male CAD vs female CAD analysis showed greater abundance of phylum Proteobacteria in males. Conclusion There were differences in the urinary microbiome when comparing female and male CAD patients with their female non‐CAD counterparts and these differences persisted in the subset analysis limited to female patients only.

Utilization of biorenewable components in UV‐curable coating formulations is both economically and environmentally beneficial, particularly when compared to their petrochemical‐based counterparts. To produce UV‐curable coatings of high biorenewable content with enhanced performance, acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (ASBO) was combined with biorenewable reactive diluent tetrahydrofufuryl acrylate, adhesion promoters, photoinitiator and hyperbranched acrylates (HBAs) as synthetic tougheners. The HBAs were found to impart high functionality and low viscosity, thus increasing crosslinking in the coating network and improving mechanical and thermal properties such as film hardness, adhesion, solvent resistance, impact resistance, tensile modulus and toughness, glass transition temperature and thermal stability. Real‐time Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed decreased acrylate conversion when compared with a reference formulation without HBAs, which was attributed to earlier coating network vitrification during UV irradiation. ASBO‐based coatings were also thermally annealed to allow further reaction of unreacted components in the vitrified network. As a result, coating properties were further improved. Overall, the addition of HBAs as synthetic tougheners to UV‐curable ASBO‐based biorenewable coating systems was shown to greatly improve the corresponding coating properties. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

Industrial grade soybean oil (SBO) and thiols were reacted to generate thiol-functionalized oligomers via a thermal, free radical initiated thiol-ene reaction between the SBO double bond moieties and the thiol functional groups. The effect of the reaction conditions, including thiol concentration, catalyst loading level, reaction time, and atmosphere, on the molecular weight and the conversion to the resultant soy-thiols were examined in a combinatorial high-throughput fashion using parallel synthesis, combinatorial FTIR, and rapid gel permeation chromatography (GPC). High thiol functionality and concentration, high thermal free radical catalyst concentration, long reaction time, and the use of a nitrogen reaction atmosphere were found to favor fast consumption of the SBO, and produced high molecular weight products. The thiol conversion during the reaction was inversely affected by a high thiol concentration, but was favored by a long reaction time and an air reaction atmosphere. These experimental observations were explained by the initial low affinity of the SBO and thiol, and the improved affinity between the generated soy-thiol oligomers and unreacted SBO during the reaction. The synthesized soy-thiol oligomers can be used for renewable thiol-ene UV curable materials and high molecular solids and thiourethane thermal cure materials.