An Old Tool to Obtain New Polymers from Renewable Resources: [OSSO]-type Titanium-Catalysed Ethylene and Myrcene Copolymers

Abstract

The copolymerization of β-myrcene (M) with ethylene (E) and isoprene (I) was successfully promoted by dichloro{1,4-dithiabutanediyl-2,2'-bis(4,6-di-alkylphenoxy)}titanium complex (1) activated by methylaluminoxane (MAO). The catalytic system afforded well-defined PME copolymers and PMEI terpolymers with controlled compositions (up to 49% of terpene incorporated in the case of PME). Microstructural analysis demonstrated high stereoselectivity of 1, with 1,4-trans insertion predominating for both isoprene (97%) and myrcene (94%). A comprehensive analysis by ¹³C and 2D NMR techniques confirmed a multi-block architecture for the novel synthesized copolymers. Notably, PMEI terpolymers exhibited a strong tendency toward forming alternating ethylene-isoprene (E-I) sequences. The thin film morphology, investigated by tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM), for the PME and PMEI copolymers, evidenced a phase-separated morphology consisting of soft and hard phases, respectively, ascribed to polydienic and polyethylenic domains. The materials displayed glass transition temperatures ranging from -62 to -74 °C, demonstrating their potential as sustainable and high-performance elastomers.

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Apr 2025
Accepted
19 Jun 2025
First published
19 Jun 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Faraday Discuss., 2025, Accepted Manuscript

An Old Tool to Obtain New Polymers from Renewable Resources: [OSSO]-type Titanium-Catalysed Ethylene and Myrcene Copolymers

F. Niknam, A. Buonerba, D. H. Lamparelli and C. Capacchione, Faraday Discuss., 2025, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D5FD00046G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements