Synthesis and Characterization of Amino Acid-based, Eco-friendly Materials

Environmental pollution from polymer waste is one of the severe ecological problems. As of today, each day, approximately eight million pieces of plastic waste reach the ocean, where they are transformed into microplastics (small particles). Organisms in the sea are eating microplastics. The harmful effects of garbage ultimately affect humans. Due to the magnitude of the problem, the demand for biodegradable, eco-friendly materials, which will decompose after the operational period and will not pollute the environment, has increased in recent years. The latter contribute significantly to the sustainable development of the economy, as they are characterized by a wide range of uses and zero or minimal environmental impact [1-2]. The presented research concerns the synthesis of rigid structure monomers and biodegradable polymers based on them. Monomers tosyl diamino-diesters (TDADE) were synthesized by thermal condensation of amino acids and cyclic diols in a refluxed organic solvent. For the synthesis of polymers, we used the interfacial polycondensation method - we synthesized pseudoproteins of poly(ester urea) class (PP-PEU) by polycondensation of TDADE monomers with triphosgene. The paper presents the synthesis of six new monomers - TDADE and the preparation of some rigid structured poly(ester urea) based on them. Polymers of this type are actively used mainly in the medical field, however, due to their mechanical characteristics, the application area is expected to be some engineering fields as well.