BioNIPU project’s chemistry is driven by two targeted applications:
- biobased waterborne NIPU coatings
- biobased NIPU elastomers
In order to obtain good properties for both applications, NIPU synthesis must lead to relatively long polymer chains.
Building long NIPU chains has already been described in the literature as one of the toughest challenges in the development of these new materials.
To tackle this issue, a two-step synthesis route inspired by the conventional polyurethane synthesis has been designed.
- a NIPU prepolymer with reactive ends is synthesized;
- this NIPU prepolymer is chain-extended by reactive extrusion to form long NIPU chains.
The structure of the NIPU can be tuned depending on the chosen building blocks to adapt its final properties to the needs of the coating or elastomer application in question.
BioNIPU pre-polymer
