Facile functionalization of soybean oil by thiol-ene photo-click reaction for the synthesis of polyfunctional acrylate

• A facile synthetic method of soybean oil-based polyfunctional acrylate (PFA) for UV-curable materials is proposed.
• The synthesis includes the radical addition of thioglycollic acid onto soybean oil and esterification reaction.
• Polyfunctional acrylate (PFA) showed the excellent UV-curing rate.

Nowadays biosource-based materials have received revitalized interest for their ability to substitute for petrochemical-based materials. In this paper, we report a facile synthetic method of soybean oil-based polyfunctional acrylate (PFA) for UV-curable materials. Specifically, rapid and highly efficient side-chain functionalization of soybean oil was achieved via photoclick thiol-ene reaction, soybean oil-based polycarboxylic acid (PCA) was thus obtained. Next, by DCC (N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide) catalyzed esterification reaction with hydroxypropyl acrylate, polyfunctional acrylate (PFA) was synthesized at room temperature. Real-FTIR result indicated that almost 100% conversion of double-bond within vegetable oil was observed within 16.7 min, yielding the soybean oil-based polycarboxylic acid quantitatively. Furthermore, the structure of PFA was confirmed by 1H NMR and FTIR. Finally, the excellent UV-curing rate of PFA was revealed by real-FTIR.

A facile synthetic method of soybean oil-based polyfunctional acrylate (PFA) for UV-curable materials was reported.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide