STATEMENT OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority from U.S. application No. 16/586,944, filed September 28, 2019, incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

In 2017, 301 million metric tons of plastic were produced from predominantly petrochemical feedstocks with 39% being single use plastics and only 10% of all plastics are recycled. Since this paradigm is not sustainable, the idea of a circular plastic economy has emerged. The basis of a circular plastic economy is to design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use so that they never become waste, and to regenerate natural systems. Several strategies to achieve a sustainable polymer economy are under investigation, such as the production of biobased and biodegradable plastics. One commercial example of a biodegradable polymer is poly(butylene) adipate terephthalate (PBAT).

While poly(butylene) terephthalate is a non-biodegradable polymer, the addition of the adipic acid monomer to the reaction mixture increased the biodegradability of the material. In the current disclosure, an approach is taken to synthesize polymers with the bio-based 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid instead of the petrochemical based p-terephthalic acid to achieve bio-based biodegradable polymers and also to potentially increase the biodegradability of current polymers. Biodegradable polymers are a class of polymer that breaks down after its intended use, often by activity by bacteria, into natural byproducts.

SUMMARY

The synthesized polymer is a random copolymer comprising three main units, a bio based aromatic, a diol, and a dicarboxylic acid, to compose a polyester. The properties and applications of the polymers are dependent upon the composition of the monomers. The potential applications may range from a replacement for polyethylene to polyethylene terephthalate, which are both commonly used polymers in single use plastics. A polymer is made that comprises random units from furandicarboxylic acid, at least one diol and at least one C2-C3 dicarboxylic acid or hydroxy fatty acid with a catalyst under reaction conditions. The process of making this polymer comprises providing a mixture of at least one furandicarboxylic acid, at least one diol, and at least one C2-C3 dicarboxlic acid, ester derivatives of C2-C3 dicarboxylic acid, hydroxy fatty acid or ester derivative of a hydroxy fatty acid; adding a catalyst and processing the mixture at reaction conditions such as temperatures between about until a polymer product is produced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A polymer is produced that is a reaction product of furandicarboxylic acid, at least one diol, and at least one C2-C3 dicarboxlic acid or hydroxy fatty acid with a catalyst. The furandicarboxylic acid may be an isomer selected from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, 2,4- furandicarboxylic acid, 2,3 -furandicarboxylic acid or a diester of the acid selected from dimethyl ester furandi carboxyl ate or diethyl ester furandicarboxylate. The diol may be an aliphatic hydrocarbon diol or a cyclic diol and the C2-C3 dicarboxylic acid may be oxalic acid or malonic acid.

The process of making the polymer comprises providing a mixture of at least one furandicarboxylic acid, at least one diol, and at least one C2-C3 dicarboxlic acid, ester derivatives of C2-C3 dicarboxylic acid, hydroxy fatty acid or ester derivative of a hydroxy fatty acid; adding a catalyst and processing the mixture at reaction conditions until a polymer product is produced. The polymer has as repeating units a random combination of the three main components. The furandicarboxylic acid may be an isomer of furandicarboxylic acid such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, 2,4-furandicarboxylic acid, and 2,3 -furandicarboxylic acid or a diester of furandicarboxylic acid such as dimethyl ester furandicarboxylate or diethyl ester furandicarboxylate. The diols that are used include an aliphatic hydrocarbon diol, a cyclic diol or mixtures thereof.. The aliphatic hydrocarbon diol may be selected from ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and butane diol. The cyclic diol may be cyclohexane diol. The C2-C3 dicarboxylic acid can include oxalic acid or malonic acid and esters of oxalic acid and malonic acid such as dimethyl oxalate, dimethyl malonate diethyl oxalate and diethyl malonate.

The hydroxy fatty acid is selected from 3 -hydroxy valeric acid, 4-hydroxybutryic acid, ricinoleic acid, 12-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid, 16-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid, 17- hydroxy octadecanoi c acid, 9,10-epoxy- 18-hydroxy octadecanoic add, and 9,10,18- trihydroxyoctadecanoic acid. The reaction conditions include a temperature from 100°C to 350°C, 100°C to 250°C or 100 to 230°C depending upon the particular reactants used and pressures from less than ambient pressure to 100 atm less than ambient to 50 atm, less than ambient to 25 atm or less than ambient to 5 atm. Pressure may be reduced from 1 atm via vacuum during a latter period of the reaction. The reaction may have a duration from 1 second to 24 hours, 1 minute to 24 hours, 1 minute to 12 hours, 1 minute to 6 hours or 1 minute to 1 hour. The catalysts that may be used are selected from metal oxides and metal alkoxide catalysts. The metal alkoxides are selected from titanium alkoxides, tin alkoxides, germanium alkoxides, antimony alkoxides and mixtures thereof. The metal alkoxide catalysts may be ethoxides, propoxides isopropoxides, butoxides, isobutoxides and ter- butoxides. The ratios of materials used include furandicarboxylic acid and C2-C3 di carboxylic acid being present at a ratio of from 0.01: 1 to 1 :0.1 or from 0.1:1 to 1 :0.1. The process may be a continuous, semi batch or batch process.

In order to more fully illustrate the invention, the following examples are set forth. It is to be understood that the examples are only by way of illustration and are not intended as an undue limitation on the broad scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

EXAMPLE 1

In a 20 mL vial with a stir bar, 1,4-butanediol (11 mol equiv.), malonic acid (3.9 mol equiv.), and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (1 mol equiv.) were combined with titanium tetra(isopropoxide) (0.033 mol equiv.) as the catalyst. After applying vacuum, the vial was flushed with nitrogen. Under flowing nitrogen, the vial was placed in a heater block on a hot plate. The reaction was stirred at 150 rpm at 110°C for 1 hour. Then, the reaction was heated to 135°C for 1.5 hours and then at 180°C for 1.5 hours. Lastly, the mixture was heated to

210°C for 1 hour under vacuum. In order to obtain the product from the vial, chloroform was added to the vial to dissolve the product. The chloroform slurry was transferred to a Teflon liner for an autoclave. The chloroform was evaporated. ¹ H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl ₃ had the following product peaks: 7.22 ppm (2 H), 4.4-4.09 ppm (10.7 H), 3.4 ppm (2.64 H), 2.0- 1.6 ppm (11.38 H) The melting point was around 94 °C and the decomposition temperature (mass loss of 5 wt%) was 250 °C. Gel permeation chromatography indicated a M _w of 11,100 (compared to polystyrene standards) and a PDI of 3.1.

EXAMPLE 2

In a 20 mL vial with a stir bar, 1,4-butanediol (11 mol equiv.), ricinoleic acid (0.3 mol equiv.), and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (1 mol equiv.) were combined with titanium tetra(isopropoxide) (0.095 mol equiv.) as the catalyst. After applying vacuum, the vial was flushed with nitrogen. Under flowing nitrogen, the vial was placed in a heater block on a hot plate. The reaction was stirred at 150 rpm at 110°C for 1 hour. Then, the reaction was heated to 135°C for 1.5 hours and then at 180°C for 1.5 hours. Lastly, the mixture was heated to 210°C for 1 hour under vacuum. In order to obtain the product from the vial, chloroform was added to the vial to dissolve the product. The chloroform slurry was transferred to a Teflon liner for an autoclave. The chloroform was evaporated. ¹ H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl ₃ had the following product peaks: 7.26-7.1 ppm (6.0 H), 5.47 ppm (1.15 H), 5.39 ppm (1.37 H), 5.13 ppm (1.0 H), 4.5-4.0 ppm (16.5 H), 2.6-1.47 ppm (34.3 H), 1.47-1.0 ppm (21.4 H), 1.0- 0.64 ppm (4.0 H). The melting point was 131 °C and the decomposition temperature (mass loss of 5 wt%) was 284 °C. Gel permeation chromatography indicated a M _w of 17,143 and a PDI of 5.6.

EXAMPLE 3

In a 20 mL vial with a stir bar, 1,4-butanediol (11 mol equiv.), 16- hydroxyhexadecanoic acid (0.32 mol equiv.), and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (1 mol equiv.) were combined with titanium tetra(isopropoxide) (0.11 mol equiv) as the catalyst. After applying vacuum, the vial was flushed with nitrogen. Under flowing nitrogen, the vial was placed in a heater block on a hot plate. The reaction was stirred at 150 rpm at 110°C for 1 hour. Then, the reaction was heated to 135°C for 1.5 hours and then at 180°C for 1.5 hours. Lastly, the mixture was heated to 210°C for 1 hour under vacuum. In order to obtain the product in a manipulatable form, chloroform was added to the vial to dissolve the product. The chloroform slurry was transferred to a Teflon liner for an autoclave. The chloroform was evaporated. ¹ H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl ₃ had the following product peaks: 7.24-7.13 ppm (2 H), 4.5-4.0 ppm (5.6 H), 2.32 ppm (0.74 H), 2.08-1.49 ppm (6.66 H), 1.47-1.11 ppm (9.8 H). The melting point was 137°C and the decomposition temperature (mass loss of 5 wt%) was 331°C. Gel permeation chromatography indicated a Mw of 47876 and a PDI of 2.0.