Synthesis and characterization of UV-curable castor oil-based polyfunctional polyurethane acrylate via photo-click chemistry and isocyanate polyurethane reaction

In this paper, UV-curable castor oil-based polyfunctional polyurethane acrylate (COME-PUA) was synthesized via photo-click chemistry and isocyanate polyurethane reaction. Facile and highly efficient side-chain functionalization of castor oil (CO) was first achieved via thiol-ene photo-click chemistry with β-mercaptoethanol (ME). 1H NMR result indicated that almost 100% conversion of double-bond in CO was observed within 10 min, and the average hydroxyl functionality of the obtained polyol COME was about 6. Next, COME was modified by isocyanate polyurethane reaction with hydroxypropyl acrylate (HPA), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and PEG-200 as the chain extender in order to prepare the resin COME-PUA. Results of both 1H NMR and FTIR revealed that the targeted COME and COME-PUA were successfully synthesized. Furthermore, UV-curing kinetic of COME-PUA was revealed by real-time FTIR, showing a higher UV-curing rate than the common CO-PUA. Finally, some physical properties of curing films were studied.