Abstract

In this work, maleilated polyflavonoids from pine bark were used as renewable building blocks in the free radical polymerization route of acrylic acid. The copolymerization reaction under different molar ratios of components and different reaction temperatures was studied. It was shown that an increase in reaction temperature from 20 to 80 degrees C increased the conversion degree and accelerated the gelation time. The copolymers with maximum conversion degree were obtained at 62 degrees C and polyflavonoid:acrylic acid molar ratio 1.125. The swelling degree of copolymers strongly depended on temperature and molar ratio of components and ranged between 1000% and 7000 %. The highest swelling degree of 7000 % was obtained for the copolymers synthesized at 80 degrees C and polyflavonoid:acrylic acid with a ratio of 0.25. The results presented in this work imply that it is possible to design the materials with specific morphology and swelling ability by tuning the different reaction parameters. Moreover, it is shown that maleilated polyflavonoids might be used as biobased compounds in industrial routes associated with production of superabsorbent materials.