Synthesis and tensile properties of biomass-based cis-1,4-polybutadiene using erythritol-derived 1,3-butadiene as a monomer

Transition metal-catalyzed polymerization of 1,3-butadiene obtained from the erythritol, a kind of biomass product, was investigated to evaluate the effect of byproducts in the synthesis of 1,3-butadiene from erythritol. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography results show that cis-1,4-polybutadiene can be selectively obtained using biomass 1,3-butadiene model gas, which contains 1-butene, cis-2-butene, and trans-2-butene, or erythritol-derived 1,3-butadiene, and no effect of butenes on the conversion rate or the microstructure of the resulting polymer was observed compared with using naphtha-derived 1,3-butadiene. The vulcanizate of the cis-1,4-polybutadiene obtained using 1,3-butadiene having a biomass model gas containing butenes has mechanical properties equivalent to those of naphtha-derived polybutadiene in tensile tests. This demonstrates that erythritol can be used as a new raw material for cis-1,4-polybutadiene.