No abstract

Both the oil and the meal in soybeans are attractive raw materials for a wide variety of high value chemicals and intermediates. Soybean is readily available at a relatively low price and is grown domestically. Hence, it is a stable, relatively inexpensive source of raw materials, which is less affected than crude oil by geo-political events. Although soybean is cultivated worldwide primarily for feed, both the oil and the meal can be used as starting materials for different industrial products and intermediates. The following is a brief summary of our recent studies for utilizing soybeans for high value industrial applications. Examples include manufacturing of linear amide-diols from dimer fatty acids. These polyols are less susceptible to radical degradation induced by heat, oxidation or ultraviolet radiation than ether-diols and are more resistance to hydrolysis than ester-diols. Unlike other polyols derived from soy triglycerides, these polyols are difunctional, which makes them suitable for use in linear polyurethanes, polyesters and polyacetals. Another example of amide-polyols are those derived from soy meal. These polyols are prepared by transamidation of soy proteins with ethanol amine. One of the most interesting attributes of these polyols is the self catalytic property when used to manufacture rigid PU foams. Silylation of the unsaturated fatty acids in the soy triglycerides with reactive silanes led to a novel one-component, moisture activated cure useful for protective coatings. These silylated soybean oils were also used to prepare interpenetrating polymer