Sucrose-based epoxy monomers and their reactions with diethylenetriamine

Two sets of sucrose-based epoxy monomers, namely, epoxy allyl sucroses (EAS), and epoxy crotyl sucroses (ECS), were prepared by epoxidation of octa-O-allyl and octa-O-crotyl sucroses (OAS and OCS, respectively). Synthetic and structural characterization studies showed that the new epoxy monomers were mixtures of structural isomers and diastereoisomers that contained varying numbers of epoxy groups per sucrose. EAS and ECS can be tailored to contain an average of one to eight epoxy groups per sucrose. Quantitative ¹³C-NMR spectrometry and titrimetry were used independently to confirm the average number of epoxy groups per sucrose. Sucrose-based epoxy monomers were cured with diethylenetriamine (DETA) in a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and their curing characteristics were compared with those of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and diepoxycrotyl ether of bisphenol A (DECEBA). EAS and DGEBA cured at 100 to 125°C and exhibited a heat of cure of about 108.8 kJ per mol epoxy. ECS and DECEBA cured at 150 and 171°C, respectively, and exhibited a heat of cure of about 83.7 kJ per mol epoxy. Depending upon the degree of epoxidation (average number of epoxy groups per sucrose) and the concentration of DETA, glass transition temperatures (T_gs) of cured EAS varied from −17 to 72°C. DETA-cured ECS containing an average of 7.3 epoxy groups per sucrose (ECS-7.3) showed no DSC glass transition between −140 and 220°C when the ratio of amine (NH) to epoxy group was 1:1 and 1.5:1. Maximum T_gs obtained for DETA-cured DGEBA and DECEBA polymers were 134 and 106°C, respectively. DETA-cured bisphenol A-based epoxy polymers degraded at about 340°C, as observed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DETA-cured sucrose-based epoxy polymers degraded at about 320°C. Sucrose-based epoxies cured with DETA were found to bind aluminum, glass, and steel. Comparative lap shear tests (ASTM D1002–94) showed that DETA-cured epoxy allyl sucroses with an average of 3.2 epoxy groups per sucrose (EAS-3.2) generated a flexible adhesive comparable in bond strength to DGEBA. However, DETA-cured ECS-7.3 outperformed the bonding characteristics of both DGEBA and EAS-3.2. All sucrose-based epoxy polymers were crosslinked and insoluble in water, N,N-dimethylformamide, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, and dichloromethane. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. A Polym. Chem. 36: 2397–2413, 1998