Hydroxy Functional Acrylates: Enzymatic Synthesis and Free Radical Polymerization

Abstract

AbstractHydroxy functional acrylates were prepared via transacylation of methyl acrylate with 1,2,6‐hexanetriol catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B. Under the applied reaction conditions, 70% of the substrate was converted into hydroxy functional acrylates. In a subsequent step, after filtration of the enzyme, the monomer mixture containing methyl acrylate and the new monomers was polymerized via free radical polymerization resulting in a functional copolymer with Mn = 14500 g/mol.