Sustainable Design of Eco-friendly Biobased Copolymers: High Shrinkage Behavior in Water and Properties of Poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate- <i>co</i> -ethylene citramalate)

Poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate-co-ethylene citramalate) (PEFC), an interesting sustainable bio-based polymer based on 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid and R-citramatic acid, was synthesized by applying the two-stage melt polycondensation method. The polymer exhibited obvious high-shrinking deformation in water. In order to clarify of mechanism of shrinking, the shrinking behavior of PEFC under various test conditions were investigated and the underlying shrinking mechanism were discussed. The results indicated that the shrinkage of PEFC was mainly regulated by glass transition; the liquid environment were found to be one of the main factors leading to the shrinkage of PEFC through affecting its glass transition. Besides polyesters were characterized with GPC, FTIR, 1H NMR, DSC and TGA, and their tensile mechanical properties and degradability were also assessed. This study provides a new fully bio-based copolyesters PEFC, which had obvious high-shrinking deformation.