Propellants Explosives Pyrotechnics, Vol.44, No.6, 776-784, 2019
In-situ Robust Polymeric Networks Prepared via Facile Uncatalyzed Huisgen Cycloaddition of Alkyne-terminated Polyurethane with Terminal Azides
We carried out catalyst - and solvent-free Huisgen azide-alkyne cycloadditon (AAC) to develop the polyurethane-based networks crosslinked through triazole moieties at chain-ends. An asymmetrical divalent compound carrying the hydroxyl and electron-deficient alkyne as terminal groups was newly synthesized to prepare the alkyne-terminated polymer containing urethane moieties within polymer backbone. Additionally, three kinds of terminal-azide crosslinkers were introduced to react with alkyne-terminated polyurethanes without any promoters. Kinetics of the uncatalyzed AAC were monitored by using real-time FT-IR technique at 50 degrees C temperature. The rate of AAC using aromatic azide dipole was faster than other dipoles. Compared to the non-polyurethane-based networks crosslinked via either urethane or triazole moieties at chain-ends, triazole chain-ends crosslinked polyurethane networks conveyed the excellent mechanical properties. However, thermal properties at low temperature were not as good as those of non-polyurethane networks. Especially, T-g of polyurethane networks formed by an oligomeric azide crosslinker was much higher than others.
Keywords:Polyurethane networks;catalyst-free azide-alkyne cycloaddition;kinetics;mechanical properties;thermal properties