Water‐Induced Self‐Blown Non‐Isocyanate Polyurethane Foams. Issue 51 (17th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bourguignon, Maxime; Grignard, Bruno; Detrembleur, Christophe
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 61:Issue 51(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-11-17
• Subjects: Carbon Dioxide -- Cyclic Carbonate -- Foam -- Non-Isocyanate Polyurethane -- Water; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202213422
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: For 80 years, polyisocyanates and polyols were central building blocks for the industrial fabrication of polyurethane (PU) foams. By their partial hydrolysis, isocyanates release CO2 that expands the PU network. Substituting this toxic isocyanate‐based chemistry by a more sustainable variant—that in situ forms CO2 by hydrolysis of a comonomer—is urgently needed for producing greener cellular materials. Herein, we report a facile, up‐scalable process, potentially compatible to existing infrastructures, to rapidly prepare water‐induced self‐blown non‐isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) foams. We show that formulations composed of poly(cyclic carbonate)s and polyamines furnish rigid or flexible NIPU foams by partial hydrolysis of cyclic carbonates in the presence of a catalyst. By utilizing readily available low cost starting materials, this simple but robust process gives access to greener PU foams, expectedly responding to the sustainability demands of many sectors. Abstract : Water is utilized to prepare self‐blown non‐isocyanate polyurethane foams by in situ generating the blowing agent (CO2 ) during the polymer network formation. The partial hydrolysis of one of the comonomers, the cyclic carbonate, generates the blowing agent. The process is facile, versatile, up scalable, uses low cost readily available reagents, can be complete in 30 minutes and is compatible with existing infrastructures for polymer foaming.