The research group of Yohei Kodobashi, Haruko Kudo (2nd year master's student at the same university), and Junya Ono (2016 graduate of the same university) at the Department of Materials and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology, made polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) simple. Succeeded in developing a system to make it functional.
PVA is a polymer used in various everyday situations such as packaging films and cosmetics, and its annual production reaches 500 million tons worldwide.
In order to further expand the application fields of PVA, it is necessary to "functionalize" to control the properties of PVA.However, PVA has a problem that it is difficult to function due to its structure, and as a result of requiring multi-step organic reaction and ultraviolet treatment, the cost becomes high.
To solve this problem, this research group focused on a benzoxabolol group-containing polymer that can reversibly bind to the diol group (two alcohol groups) of PVA.By simply mixing a polymer containing a benzoxabolol group with PVA, PVA can be easily functionalized without the need for dangerous solvents or special equipment.Moreover, since it can be applied to the existing PVA production line as it is, it is expected that functional PVA can be manufactured at low cost.
In this study, it is said that it actually succeeded in imparting temperature responsiveness and pH responsiveness to PVA film.It was clarified that the reversible covalent bond between the benzoxabolol group and the diol group of PVA is involved in film formation and functionalization.By extending this technology, it is possible to prepare functional PVA films that respond to light, magnetic fields, sound, specific molecules, and so on.
Functional PVA film can be applied as various sensors, so it can be a basic technology that supports the IoT society.In addition, since the material has high biocompatibility, it is expected to be applied to the medical field.
Paper information:[Polymer] Controlled water-soluble properties of poly (vinyl alcohol) films via the benzoxaborole-containing temperature-responsive copolymers
