EPOXIDIZED TRIGLYCERIDES AS RENEWABLE MONOMERS IN PHOTOINITIATED CATIONIC POLYMERIZATION

A wide variety of epoxidized triglyceride oils was examined as renewable monomers in photoinitiated cationic polymerization. Unsaturated triglyceride oils were obtained from commercial sources and exhaustively epoxidized and characterized by chemical and spectroscopic methods. The oils were photopolymerized as thin films using diaryliodonium and triarylsulfonium salt photoinitiators bearing long-chain alkoxy substituents. The course of the photopolymerizations was monitored using differential scanning photocalorimetry. The effects of the structures of both the cation and the anion of the photoinitiator on the polymerization rates were investigated. The photopolymerization rates were also found to be dependent on the structure and epoxy content of the monomers. The photopolymerized polymer networks were characterized by thermal analysis as well as by mechanical techniques.