Novel biobased thermoplastic polyamide elastomers (TPAEs) were synthesized using a long-chain polyamide 1212 (PA1212) oligomer and 100% renewably resourced poly-(trimethylene glycol) (PPDO) via a facile "two-step" melt polycondensation. The TPAEs are lightweight, with a density of 1.04∼1.05 g cm −3 . The structure and morphology of the TPAEs with high biocontent were investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA). The results show that the new biobased TPAEs have a clearly microphase-separated structure comprising quite low crystalline PA1212 segments and an amorphous PPDO segment at room temperature. The spherical rigid PA1212 domains for PA624-PPDO with a diameter of about 100 nm can well disperse in the amorphous PPDO phase. Moreover, the rigid PA1212 segments mutually interconnect with the increasing molecular weight of the PA1212 oligomer, and the typical PA1212 spherulites about 200 nm with lamellae structures have been found in PA2200-PPDO, filled with amorphous PPDO in the interlayer. Since the structure and morphology characteristics, the storage modulus (E′) of TPAEs quickly decreases from about 3000 MPa in a glassy state to 400 MPa in a rubbery state. Furthermore, long-chain PA1212 segments contribute to the outstanding thermal stability; i.e., the initial decomposition temperatures of all TPAEs are over 360 °C. The novel biobased TPAEs with good lowtemperature elastic, high elastic recovery, and good thermally stable properties are expected to have potential applications in CO 2 separation and breathable dressing. ■ HIGHLIGHTSNovel TPAEs have a long-chain polyamide as a rigid segment and 100% renewably resourced polyether as a flexible segment. The biobased TPAE is lightweight with good thermal and mechanical properties. Microphase-separated morphology of the TPAEs is observed.

Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) is the oxidation product of soybean oil with hydrogen peroxide and either acetic or formic acid obtained by converting the double bonds into epoxy groups, which is non-toxic and of higher chemical reactivity. ESO is mainly used as a green plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride, while the reactive epoxy groups imply its great potential in both the monomer synthesis and the polymer preparation fields. Functional polymers are obtained by different kinds of reactions of the ESO with co-monomers and/or initiators shown in this chapter. The emphasis is on ESO based epoxy cross-linked polymers which recently gained strong interest and allowed new developments especially from both an academic point of view and an industrial point of view. It is believed that new ring-opening reagents may facilitate the synthesis of good structural ESO based materials.

Novel thermoplastic polyamide elastomers (TPAEs) consisting of long-chain semicrystalline polyamide 1212 (PA1212) and amorphous polyetheramine were synthesized via one-pot melt polycondensation. The method provides accessible routes to prepare TPAEs with a high tolerance of compatibility between polyamide and polyether oligomers compared with the traditional two-step method. These TPAEs with 10 wt % to 76 wt % of soft content were obtained by reaction of dodecanedioic acid, 1,12-dodecanediamine, and poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) diamine. The structure–property relationships of TPAEs were systematically studied. The chemical structure and the morphologic analyses have revealed that microphase separation occurs in the amorphous region. The TPAEs that have long-chain PPG segments consist of a crystalline polyamide domain, amorphous polyamide-rich domain, and amorphous polyetheramine-rich domain, while the ones containing short-chain PPG segments comprise of a crystalline polyamide domain and miscible amorphous polyamide phase and amorphous polyetheramine phase due to the compatibility between short-chain polyetheramine and amorphous polyamide. These novel TPAEs show good damping performance at low temperature, especially the TPAEs that incorporated 76 wt % and 62 wt % of PPG diamine. The TPAEs exhibit high elastic properties and low residual strain at room temperature. They are lightweight with density between 1.01 and 1.03 g/cm3. The long-chain TPAEs have well-balanced properties of low density, high elastic return, and high shock-absorbing ability. This work provides a route to expand TPAEs to damping materials with special application for sports equipment used in extremely cold conditions such as ski boots.