The quest for sustainable monomers and “green”
synthetic
pathways for the design, fabrication, and modification of various
polymers is of great importance and attracts a great deal of attention.
Here, a highly versatile and novel bio-based platform was developed
by reacting castor oil with propiolic acid for performing amino-yne
click reactions. Owing to the electron-deficient nature of the propiolic
acid esters, amino-yne click reactions were conducted with ease at
room temperature, in the absence of any catalyst and solvent (as long
as the amines were low-viscosity liquids at room temperature), and
within 5 min. Several primary and secondary amines were shown to react
readily with the developed platform. Furthermore, thermosets were
prepared by using the propiolated castor oil and multifunctional amines.
The prepared thermosets displayed improved thermal properties and
elastomer-like mechanical properties.