Controlling associative transcarbamoylation reactions by light in dynamic polyurethane networks using reversible spiropyran photoswitches

Polyurethanes represent a versatile class of polymers and are one of the most employed in the thermoset market. However, due to their thermodynamically stable carbamate bond, they suffer from a lack of reprocessability, recyclability, and degradability, and are therefore usually discarded after use. Recently, transcarbamoylation in polyurethane thermosets has been demonstrated via associative exchange in the presence of a strong organic acid. Intending to introduce spatiotemporal control in the processability of polyurethane materials, in this work we investigate dynamic transcarbamoylation by the addition of a latent acidic catalyst into an aromatic and an aliphatic polyurethane network. We introduce three photoswitches based on merocyanine/spiropyran compounds which, upon exposure to visible light, undergo a reversible cyclization reaction, resulting in the formation of strong acids. The use of such photoswitches prevents the presence of a permanent acidic species in the network, which would eventually lead to its degradation over time. Importantly, due to the reversible nature of the cyclization reaction, the release of the acidic catalyst is not permanent, as evidenced by stress relaxation measurements. Overall, the evidence of the light-induced, acid-catalyzed transcarbamoylation is supported by stress relaxation, optical microscopy, and self-healing measurements.