The aim of the Bio4Clean project is to produce sustainable functional polymers for use in detergents and cleaning agents. Polymers are made up of individual monomers. Currently established fossil-based raw materials, which are neither sustainable nor forward-looking, serve as the predominant raw material resource for these monomers. This project aims to investigate the potential of renewable raw materials and/or plastic recycling streams as sustainable resources for monomers and the functional polymers obtained from them.
Diols and diamines are extremely interesting monomer classes for the synthesis of sustainable polymers. However, in order for such a polymer to be used as a performance additive for detergent formulations, it must have an additional chemical functionality. The functionality interacts with the textile fibre during the washing process, whereby various effects can be achieved. These include performance dimensions such as easier washing out of stains or prevention of discolouration or greying. However, it is problematic that such wash-active functionalities can also react during a polymerisation reaction, as a result of which the functionality is no longer present.
One synthetic challenge of the project is therefore to develop diols and diamines with a universal coupling group that is retained during polymerisation. In this way, a universally functionalisable precursor polymer will be developed. In a subsequent reaction, the coupling group can then be used to specifically introduce wash-active groups to the polymer using established chemistry. This synthesis approach offers universal use of the precursor polymer as a central starting compound for the individual introduction of different functionalities by means of side groups or side chains. It provides access to customised functional polymers for detergents and cleaning agents.