Chemo‐ and Regioselective Additions of Nucleophiles to Cyclic Carbonates for the Preparation of Self‐Blowing Non‐Isocyanate Polyurethane Foams

Florent Monie , Bruno Grignard , Jean-Michel Thomassin , Raphael Mereau (1) , Thierry Tassaing (1) , Christine Jérôme , Christophe Detrembleur

1 ISM - Institut des Sciences Moléculaires

Polyurethane (PU) foams are indisputably daily essential materials found in many applications, notably for comfort (e.g. matrasses) or energy saving (e.g. thermal insulation). Today, greener routes for their production are intensively searched for avoiding the use of toxic isocyanates. We now describe an easily scalable process for the simple construction of self-blown isocyanate-free PU foams by exploiting the organocatalyzed chemo-and regio-selective additions of amines and thiols to easily accessible cyclic carbonates. These reactions are first validated on model compounds and rationalized by DFT calculations. Various foams are then prepared and characterized in terms of morphology and mechanical properties, and the scope of the process is illustrated by modulating the composition of the reactive formulation. This work illustrates how chemo-and regio-selective additions can be exploited for the easy construction of more sustainable PU foams.

Domaines: Chimie

Florent Monie, Bruno Grignard, Jean-Michel Thomassin, Raphael Mereau, Thierry Tassaing, et al.. Chemo‐ and Regioselective Additions of Nucleophiles to Cyclic Carbonates for the Preparation of Self‐Blowing Non‐Isocyanate Polyurethane Foams. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, 59 (39), pp.17033-17041. ⟨10.1002/anie.202006267⟩. ⟨hal-02990811⟩