Propiolated Castor Oil: A Novel and Highly Versatile Bio-Based Platform for Extremely Fast, Catalyst‑, and Solvent-Free Amino-yne Click Reactions

The quest for sustainable monomers and “green” synthetic pathways for the design, fabrication, and modification of various polymers is of great importance and attracts a great deal of attention. Here, a highly versatile and novel bio-based platform was developed by reacting castor oil with propiolic acid for performing amino-yne click reactions. Owing to the electron-deficient nature of the propiolic acid esters, amino-yne click reactions were conducted with ease at room temperature, in the absence of any catalyst and solvent (as long as the amines were low-viscosity liquids at room temperature), and within 5 min. Several primary and secondary amines were shown to react readily with the developed platform. Furthermore, thermosets were prepared by using the propiolated castor oil and multifunctional amines. The prepared thermosets displayed improved thermal properties and elastomer-like mechanical properties.