Synthesis of renewable isosorbide-based polyurethane acrylate resins for UV-cured coating with adjustable properties

Isosorbide (IS) is an ideal bio-based monomer capable of preparing high-performance polymeric materials to substitute petroleum-based materials. Herein, IS is applied as source material to prepare polyurethane acrylate resins (PUA-ISCL2/4/6/8) and ultimately for the preparation of UV-cured coatings. By tuning the amount of ε-caprolactone (CL) in the structure, the resulting coatings exhibit adjustable viscosity, thermal stability and mechanical properties with good hydrophilicity. Double bond conversion of PUA-ISCL8 measured by Photo-DSC with results up to 83 %. More impressively, the prepared UV-cured coatings displayed a suitable pencil hardness of 3H as well as a high glass transition temperature (Tg) of 74 °C. This work proposes to prepare UV-cured coatings with excellent overall performance by regulating the ratio of IS and CL, which has good prospects for practical applications.