Synthesis of homo- and copolyesters containing divanillic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, and alkanediols and their thermal and mechanical properties

Abstract Divanillic acid, the dimer of vanillic acid, has been widely used as an aromatic building block of bio-based polymers. In this study, a series of homo- and copolyesters composed of a methylated dialkoxydivanillic acid monomer with an alkoxy side-chain length of 1 or 4 carbon units, cyclohexanedimethanol, and an alkanediol with a chain length of 6, 8, or 12 carbon units was synthesized. The polyesters obtained exhibited high weight-average molecular weights in the range of 4.4 × 104 to 20 × 104 g/mol and degradation temperatures higher than 380 °C. Thermo-pressed films were prepared from all the polyesters. Their glass transition temperature and elongation-at-break values could be tuned from −1 to 120 °C and 3% to 1500%, respectively, by changing the lengths of the alkoxy side chain and the alkanediol as well as the composition of the copolyester.