Date of Award

Winter 5-16-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Chemistry (MSChem)

First Advisor

Dr. Ram Gupta

Second Advisor

Dr. Tim Dawsey

Third Advisor

Dr. Alessandro Martins

Keywords

Bio based

Abstract

In this thesis, we applied 1,4-butanediol, which is an emerging biobased and low-cost monomer, was synthesized with a series of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, namely succinic acid, adipic acid, and sebacic acid using melt polycondensation to Biobased polyesters. The resulting polymers poly(butylene succinate) (PPeS), poly(butylene adipate) (PPeA), and poly(butylene sebacate) (PPeSe) chemical structures were analysis through Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) revealed the elimination of side reactions in the obtained polyesters. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was employed to analyze physical properties, and the impact of dicarboxylate chain length and long short diol on crystalline structure and thermo-mechanical properties was investigated characterized with intrinsic viscosity, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis(DMA) and tensile testing. All the polymers had weight-average molecular weight over 50,000 g/mol and melting temperature (Tm) ranging from 50˚C to 116˚C, PPeA exhibited a lower melting temperature due to semicrystalline structure and rapid crystallization. The “even-even” effect was observed, contributing to increased tensile strength of PPeA. All the polymers exhibit good thermal stability, mechanical properties and tensile properties compared to polyethylene. These biobased and potentially biodegradable polyester appear to be promising for practical applications like packaging, biomedical materials, and environmentally friendly plastics.

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