Green polyurethane from lignin and soybean oil through non-isocyanate reactions

• Polyurethane (PU) was synthesized through a non-isocyanate reactions.
• Modified lignin and soybean oil were used as the starting materials.
• The polymerization chemistry and the physical properties of lignin/soybean oil based PU were discussed.

Here we report the synthesis route to produce non-isocyanate polyurethane elastomer with significantly high biomass contents (85 wt%) prepared from two different biomasses, i.e., lignin and soybean oil, for the first time. Carbonated soybean oil was reacted with coupling agent, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, to form urethane bridges, and then lignin was introduced to produce sustainable polyurethane. All samples were studied by the FT-IR spectra which showed typical linkages of polyurethane. The increase in lignin content resulted in the increase of tensile strength, reaching as high as 1.4 MPa.

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