Research Projects

Polyurethane-based products often have negative environmental impacts due to their non-degradable properties and the use of toxic isocyanate reagents and petro-based polyols. However, recent developments have led to the development of hybrid polyhydroxyurethanes, which have improved molar mass, thermal stability, physicochemical, and mechanical properties. These products are crucial for fire safety and can be promoted by incorporating flame-retardancy with biodegradability. Renewable sources like plant oils, cereal, terpenes, and biodegradable polyols have been used to synthesize cyclic carbonate substrates to react with sustainable or commercial diamines and P-N moiety to create non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPU) with biodegradable and fire-retardant properties. These NIPU can be obtained by polyaddition reaction of cyclic carbonate from substrates with counter reactants containing spacer moiety tethered with amine groups. Hybrid NIPU can be formulated by substituting cyclic or acylic phosphorus(V) precursors for fire retardant properties. To achieve mechanical strength and biodegradability, cyclic carbonates can be developed via carbonation of epoxy derivative at atmospheric pressure. Renewable polyols and cyclic carbonate derivatives can be synthesized using renewable sources, isosorbide, menthone, castor oil, and polycaprolactone polyols.