Biobased Unsaturated Polyesters — Innovative Research Published by Claire Morand in ACS

Biobased Unsaturated Polyesters — Innovative Research Published by Claire Morand in ACS

We are thrilled to share the very first article of our PhD student Claire Morand for her work on the synthesis of fully biobased unsaturated polyester resins with controlled cis/trans content for 3D printing applications published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering!

This study is part of her PhD thesis, in which she develops biobased unsaturated polyesters by combining maleic acid and 1,3-propanediol in a polycondensation reaction mediated by naturally derived catalysts. Five bio-based molecules—creatinine, proline, nicotinic acid, taurine, and betaine—were evaluated as catalysts, and their influence on reaction conversion, molecular weight, and double-bond isomerization in the resulting polyester resins was investigated. The results demonstrated that the choice of catalyst plays a key role in determining the structure and final properties of the materials obtained, which were tested for photo-curing.

These insights highlight the potential of bio-sourced catalysts to produce more sustainable unsaturated polyesters with tunable characteristics for further application in 3D printing.

Claire’s work is part of the EU HORIZON project NATURE and the result of a fruitful collaboration between POLYKEY, UPV/EHU, and the Dove’s group at the University of Birmingham.

📖 Read the article here

🌿 Interested in commercial bio-based polymers? Check our catalogue of bio-based polyether polyols.