Application of pyrrolidone building blocks in developing renewable 2-oxazolines based thermosets: Towards sustainable and recyclable resins

The research focuses on a greener way to synthesize new biobased building blocks originating from renewable sources like itaconic acid and various amines including naturally occurring amino acids, that has shown its potential in the field of adhesives. Preliminary results show that their adhesion strength is better than most of the commercially available ones, matching with that of Gorilla Glue. Furthermore, this 2-oxazoline based thermoset resin shows pronounced adhesion to metal surfaces, glass and fibers containing amide or ester bonds. While predicting its end of life, these renewable thermosets can be enzymatically depolymerized by the bacteria found in soil (Bacillus sp.) and are chemically recyclable, thereby enabling recovery of renewable monomers, which can be further reused. As a potential utility of these recovered monomers, they proved their potential in enhancing the nucleation of poly(lactic acid).