Evaluation of Nigerian plant oils for polymer chemistry

Preliminary studies on Plukenetia conophora (PKCO), Jatropha curcas (JTCO) and Telfaira occidentalis (TOO) oils to reveal their suitability in producing new renewable polymers via acyclic triene metathesis (ATMET) will be presented.[1] Seeds of the three mentioned species were collected in Nigeria, crunched and extracted in order to evaluate these locally growing plants as potential renewable raw materials for the African chemical industry. PKCO had an oil yield of 45% (~ 70% linolenic acid, 17.0% linoleic acid, 11.7% oleic acid and 0.8% stearic acid) while JTCO and TOO gave 32% and 40% oil yields, respectively. The composition of JTCO was (~ 41.2% linoleic acid, 31.4 % oleic acid, 6.8.% stearic and 19.5% palmitic acid) and the composition of TOO was ( ~ 37.9% oleic acid, 12.3% linoleic acid, 14.1% stearic acid, 24.1% palmitic acid and 11,5% myristic acid ). Thus, these three oils have different levels of unsaturation allowing to obtain different molecular weights and degrees of functionalization during ATMET polymerizations with functional group containing chainstoppers. The investigation of the olefin metathesis polymerizations of these oils, the characterization of the thus obtained branched polymers and their use as resins are in progress.

References:
[1] P. A. Fokou, M. A. R. Meier, Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2008, 29, 1620.

Acknowledgement:
We thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a Georg Forster Research Fellowship for C.O. Akintayo.