Polymers from renewable resources are gaining a lot of interest, especially with the high price and limited availability of crude oil. Polyurethane is one polymer that widely used in various industries including packaging. Therefore it is desirable to be able to synthesize biobased polyurethane, especially with toxicity concerns from polymer production. The two main building blocks in polyurethanes are polyol and isocyanate.One example of biobased polyol that is available commercially is soy-derived polyol. Catalytic ozonation of soybean oil has been investigated as one effective method to produce polyols. Ozone is known to be a powerful oxidizing agent, and is used in combination with ultraviolet (UV) light in many processes for oxidation of organic material to improve the effectiveness of the reaction. The combination of ozone and UV light in ozonation reaction of soybean oil was investigated. It was found that the addition of UV light to the process did not change the rate of the ozonation reaction.Two isocyanate-free and phosgene-free methods were utilized to synthesize biobased polyurethane: polyurethane synthesis from carbamate ester and polyurethane synthesis from ethylene carbonate. Dimethyl azelate was used as a model compound. Analyses were conducted on the end products of both methods. The polyurethane synthesis using ethylene carbonate was found to be a more direct approach to produce polyurethanes. This method is, therefore, recommended for further study of bio-based polyurethane synthesis.
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