Synthesis of polyurethane based on indirect utilization strategy of CO2

Abstract

A novel indirect utilization route of carbon dioxide (CO2) was developed to synthesis CO2-based polyurethane (PU) under mild conditions. A series of PUs were successfully synthesized by the inner-molecular dehydration of the CO2-storage materials (CO2SMs), which were prepared by the absorption of CO2 with diamine + glycol systems at room temperature, using N,N-diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC) as the dehydrating agent. The optimal conditions for the strategy were determined as follows: reaction temperature 90 °C, dehydrating agent 10 mL DIC, CO2SM 3 g, and reaction time 12 h. The yields of PUs were found to be 2.13–2.54 g/3 g CO2SM under the optimal synthesis conditions. The average molecular weights of the as-synthesized PUs ranged from 10,400 g/mol to 12,700 g/mol and all of the PUs exhibited high thermal stability. This work has provided scientific foundation for the development of synthesis routes of PUs from CO2. And it realizes the synthesis of CO2-based PU at low temperature and atmospheric pressure, which is of significance for energy conservation and emission reduction via the indirect utilization of CO2.