Nonisocyanate Biobased Poly(ester urethanes) with Tunable Properties Synthesized via an Environment-Friendly Route

The objective of this study was to explore an environment-friendly route to synthesize nonisocyanate based poly(ester urethanes) of poly(1,10-bis(hydroxyethyloxycarbonylamino) decane-co-dicarboxylic acid) (PBDA) from renewable materials/resources. In specific, 1,10-bis(hydroxyethyloxycarbonylamino)decane (BHD) was first synthesized from ethylene carbonate and decamethylene diamine via the melt ring-opening reaction. Subsequently, the PBDAs with tunable properties were synthesized from BHD and five dicarboxylic acids (including three biobased ones of oxalic acid, sebacic acid, and itaconic acid) via the melt polycondensation reaction. The structural, physical, and mechanical properties of PBDAs were characterized by FTIR, NMR, XRD, GPC, TGA, and mechanical testing machine; additionally, the environmental stability was evaluated upon measuring the water absorption amount in deionized water and the degradation percentage in phosphate buffer saline. The results indicated that the PBDAs possessed reasonably good properties and thus could potentially be used for engineering applications; moreover, because their macromolecular chains/backbones contained ester and urethane groups (which would usually result in excellent cytocompatibility), it was envisioned that these PBDAs might also be suitable for some biological and/or biomedical applications.