a-Eleostearic Acid Extraction by Saponification of Tung Oil and Its Subsequent Polymerization
Location
Nessmith-Lane Atrium
Session Format
Poster Presentation
Research Area Topic:
Natural & Physical Sciences - Chemistry
Abstract
Today, scientists are once again finding tung oil and other vegetable oils attractive for alternative uses. The goal behind environmentally alternative research is to replace the current fossil fuel based products with more environmentally sustainable products. Tung oil and other vegetable oils are made up of triglyceride units; which are glycerol esters connected to unsaturated fatty acids. The carbon-carbon double bonds in the unsaturated oils make them ideal reactive sites for the chemical industry. Other research has cultivated on the oils promising results and ventured into the development of numerous bio-based resin systems. Polyurethanes, polyester amides, polyolefins, alkyd resins are just some of the resins out in the current market. One drawback to these resins is that they can be vicious and difficult to handle. To overcome this problem, researchers have reinforced these resins with inorganic compounds. The difficulty with binding between the polymer and reinforcement, lies within the incompatibility between hydrophobic resin and the hydrophilic filler. Based off the promising results from other studies with tung oil polymerization, it is this research goal to eliminate the need for a compatibilizer during composite preparation. Cellulose is a hydrophilic polysaccharide and is composed of repeating D-glucose units. Due to celluloses biodegradability, accessibility, and mechanical properties it has become increasingly popular for the production of low cost materials. Tung oil has also become increasingly popular due to its unique fatty acid composition, with approximately 83% of the fatty acid chains being ë±-eleostearic acid. By free radical polymerization of isolated tung oil fatty acids, a polymeric network containing hydroxyl groups with the potential to hydrogen bond with polar reinforcements, such as cellulose, can be obtained. ë±-Cellulose will be used as a model hydrophilic reinforcement to study the interface between the ë±-eleostearic acid-based polymer and hydrophilic reinforcements. The successful isolation of fatty acids was checked by GC-MS and 1H NMR. Additionally, all materials were analyzed by Raman, and FT-IR.
Presentation Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Start Date
4-16-2016 10:45 AM
End Date
4-16-2016 12:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Murawski, Amanda, "a-Eleostearic Acid Extraction by Saponification of Tung Oil and Its Subsequent Polymerization" (2016). GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium. 135.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/research_symposium/2016/2016/135
a-Eleostearic Acid Extraction by Saponification of Tung Oil and Its Subsequent Polymerization
Nessmith-Lane Atrium
Today, scientists are once again finding tung oil and other vegetable oils attractive for alternative uses. The goal behind environmentally alternative research is to replace the current fossil fuel based products with more environmentally sustainable products. Tung oil and other vegetable oils are made up of triglyceride units; which are glycerol esters connected to unsaturated fatty acids. The carbon-carbon double bonds in the unsaturated oils make them ideal reactive sites for the chemical industry. Other research has cultivated on the oils promising results and ventured into the development of numerous bio-based resin systems. Polyurethanes, polyester amides, polyolefins, alkyd resins are just some of the resins out in the current market. One drawback to these resins is that they can be vicious and difficult to handle. To overcome this problem, researchers have reinforced these resins with inorganic compounds. The difficulty with binding between the polymer and reinforcement, lies within the incompatibility between hydrophobic resin and the hydrophilic filler. Based off the promising results from other studies with tung oil polymerization, it is this research goal to eliminate the need for a compatibilizer during composite preparation. Cellulose is a hydrophilic polysaccharide and is composed of repeating D-glucose units. Due to celluloses biodegradability, accessibility, and mechanical properties it has become increasingly popular for the production of low cost materials. Tung oil has also become increasingly popular due to its unique fatty acid composition, with approximately 83% of the fatty acid chains being ë±-eleostearic acid. By free radical polymerization of isolated tung oil fatty acids, a polymeric network containing hydroxyl groups with the potential to hydrogen bond with polar reinforcements, such as cellulose, can be obtained. ë±-Cellulose will be used as a model hydrophilic reinforcement to study the interface between the ë±-eleostearic acid-based polymer and hydrophilic reinforcements. The successful isolation of fatty acids was checked by GC-MS and 1H NMR. Additionally, all materials were analyzed by Raman, and FT-IR.