Evaluation of renewable tartaric acid derived tartarimides as monomer precursors in polyurethane synthesis

The depletion of fossil fuels and the negative effects of these resources on the environment are increasing the interest in sustainable and environmentally friendly polymer materials day by day. In this study, tartarimide monomers obtained from renewable tartaric acid derivatives were used as an environmentally friendly alternative to diol compounds and thus innovative polyurethane materials with more sustainable properties were synthesized. First of all, functional tartarimide monomers were successfully synthesized using L-tartaric acid and primary amines and confirmed by NMR, FTIR and elemental analysis methods. Then, these monomers were copolymerized with diisocyanates such as MDI and HDI to obtain polyurethanes with high monomer conversion rates. The structural and thermal properties of the polymers were examined in detail by SEC, DSC and TGA analyses. Thanks to the furan and alkene functional groups, the polymers were modified with radical thiol-ene and Diels-Alder based click reactions and superior mechanical properties were gained. The results show that biobased tartarimide offers a strong alternative for the production of environmentally friendly and durable polyurethane. This study contributes to the evaluation of biobased materials as sustainable materials of the future in the automotive, construction and biomedical fields.