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A quantitative evaluation of solvent quality of an environmentally friendly solvent ‘d-Limonene’ for polystyrene

Polymer Journal volume 56, pages 121–125 (2024)Cite this article

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It is well known that in dilute solutions, polymer chains expand in good solvents because of the excluded-volume effect, while they contract in poor solvents because of the diminished excluded-volume effect [1]. The state in which the excluded-volume effect disappears because of an apparent balance between repulsive and attractive forces acting between the components of the polymer chains is called the Θ state, which is realized at a specific temperature (called the Θ temperature) in a poor solvent [1]. For polystyrene (PS), toluene and benzene are known to be typical good solvents, and cyclohexane is a representative poor solvent. In addition, there is a category of medium solvents that are intermediate between good and poor solvents. Examples of medium solvents for PS include methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and 4-tert-butyltoluene. We can determine the extent of the excluded-volume effect by measuring the average dimensions of polymer chains in dilute solutions, and thus, we can evaluate the solvent quality that indicates how well a solvent dissolves a polymer.

d-Limonene is an essential oil component of citrus peels. It is a colorless liquid with a lemon-like aroma. d-Limonene and the repeat units of PS have similar chemical structures; hence, it is expected that PS may dissolve well in d-limonene. Indeed, d-limonene dissolves expanded PS and reduces its volume at room temperature [2,3,4]. Hence, d-limonene is expected to be widely used as an environmentally friendly disposal method for expanded PS in the near future [2,3,4].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Japan

    Takumi Ozeki & Masashi Osa

  2. Department of Polymer Chemistry, Kyoto University, Katsura, Kyoto, Japan

    Daichi Ida

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  1. Takumi Ozeki
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  2. Daichi Ida
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Correspondence to Masashi Osa.

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Ozeki, T., Ida, D. & Osa, M. A quantitative evaluation of solvent quality of an environmentally friendly solvent ‘d-Limonene’ for polystyrene. Polym J 56, 121–125 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00845-x

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