Furan-modified natural rubber: A substrate for its reversible crosslinking and for clicking it onto nanocellulose

Abstract

The conventional vulcanization process applied to elastomers is irreversible and hinders therefore their useful recycling. We demonstrate here that natural rubber can be reversibly crosslinked via the Diels-Alder coupling of furan and maleimide moieties. The furan-modified natural rubber used in this strategy was also exploited to bind it to maleimide-modified nanocellulose, thus generating a covalently crosslinked composite of these two renewable polymers.

Keywords: Aminomaleimide; Diels-Alder reaction; Furans; Recycling; TEMPO-oxidized nanocellulose; Thermal reversibility.