Beyond Green Chemistry: The Emerging Physics of Non-Isocyanate Polyurethanes

Non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) produced by the aminolysis of cyclic carbonates are often presented as safer and more sustainable alternatives to conventional polyurethanes. Their monomer sourcing and synthetic pathways are by now fairly well explored, but the physical principles controlling their properties remain much less understood. This perspective challenges the notion that these materials follow the paradigm of conventional polyurethanes. Emphasis is placed on the hydroxyl group formed next to the urethane moiety, which distinguishes these materials from conventional polyurethanes and makes them more precisely poly(hydroxy urethanes). The available evidence indicates that this pendent hydroxyl is not a minor structural detail but a central actor affecting hydrogen bonding, microphase separation, and through them, many macroscopic physical properties of NIPUs, such as glass transition, mechanical response, water uptake and reprocessability. In addition, it enables thermally activated bond-exchange reactions, which dynamically change chain connectivity and, in networks, topology. As a result, concepts borrowed from conventional segmented polyurethanes cannot be transferred directly to non-isocyanate ones. Instead, a new, physics-oriented predictive framework is the necessary next step for the rational design of non-isocyanate polyurethanes. Such a framework should take bond-exchange reactions into account and connect molecular structure and thermal history with the macroscopic physical properties.