Carbolic oil is a fraction of coal tar with an enormous
reserve,
40% of which are aromatic olefins such as indene, coumarone, styrene, etc. However, it is an underutilized r esource due to the
lack of deep processing technology. In this study, we copolymerized
olefins in the carbolic oil with maleic anhydride (MAh) by self-stabilized
precipitation polymerization (2SP) method, to obtain uniform carbolic
oil–maleic anhydride copolymer (CMA) particles with high yield
(≥90%). Uniform CMA particles with a number-average molecular
weight (M
n) in the range of 4400–24,100
g·mol–1 and particle sizes in the range of
150–2800 nm could be conveniently obtained by tuning the reaction
factors. CMA exhibited good solubility in common organic solvents
and possessed good thermal stability. After chemical modification
of anhydride groups, CMA could be further converted into water-soluble
carbolic oil–maleamic acid copolymers (CMAA), and heat-resistant
and hydrophobic carbolic oil–maleimide copolymers (CMI). Overall,
this research had provided a facile and green strategy for the effective
utilization of waste olefins in carbolic oil, and the obtained copolymers
had broad application prospects.