Synthesis of High Molecular Weight Biobased Aliphatic Polyesters Exhibiting Tensile Properties Beyond Polyethylene.

Synthesis of high molecular weight polyesters prepared by acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization of bis(undec-10-enoate) with isosorbide ( M1 ), isomannide ( M2 ), and 1,3-propanediol ( M3 ) and the subsequent hydrogenation have been achieved by using a molybdenum-alkylidene catalyst. The resultant polymers ( P1 ) prepared by the ADMET polymerization of M1 (in toluene at 25 °C) possessed high M n values ( M n = 44400-49400 g/mol), and no significant differences in the M n values and the PDI ( M w / M n ) values were observed in the samples after the hydrogenation. Both the tensile strength and the elongation at break in the hydrogenated polymers from M1 ( HP1 ) increased upon increasing the molar mass, and the sample with an M n value of 48200 exhibited better tensile properties (tensile strength of 39.7 MPa, elongation at break of 436%) than conventional polyethylene, polypropylene, as well as polyester containing C 18 alkyl chains. The tensile properties were affected by the diol segment employed, whereas HP2 showed a similar property to HP1 .