Poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF) has garnered considerable industrial and academic interest as a renewable alternative to traditional polyesters due to its superior barrier and thermal properties. While efforts for the industrial scale production of PEF from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and ethylene glycol (EG) are underway, most of the published literature on PEF follows the conventional terephthalic acid (TPA) based polyester synthesis protocol. In this study, we reveal for the first time that the solubility of FDCA is an order of magnitude higher in EG compared to that in TPA at the process temperatures. The enhanced solubility of FDCA in EG results in improved esterification kinetics especially at temperatures from 180–210 °C to yield complete end group conversion. We further demonstrate that it is advantageous to perform the direct esterification step of PEF synthesis in a lower temperature range than that in previous reports reducing the potential side reactions in addition to cost and energy savings at the industrial scale. This work can provide new insights into the sustainable synthesis of FDCA-based polyesters for bio-based packaging.

中文翻译：

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降低的溶解度在2,5-呋喃二甲酸与乙二醇的酯化反应中提高溶解度的作用：高效合成聚（2,5-呋喃二甲酸乙二醇酯）†

聚（2,5-呋喃二甲酸乙烯酯）（PEF）由于其优越的阻隔性和热性能，作为传统聚酯的可再生替代品已赢得了相当大的工业和学术兴趣。尽管正在进行由2，5-呋喃二甲酸（FDCA）和乙二醇（EG）工业规模生产PEF的努力，但大多数已公开的PEF文献都遵循基于常规对苯二甲酸（TPA）的聚酯合成方案。在这项研究中，我们首次揭示了在过程温度下，FDCA在EG中的溶解度比在TPA中的溶解度高一个数量级。FDCA在EG中的溶解度提高，尤其是在180–210°C的温度下，酯化动力学得到改善，以实现完全的端基转化。我们进一步证明，与以前的报道相比，在较低的温度范围内进行PEF合成的直接酯化步骤是有利的，这不仅减少了潜在的副反应，而且还节省了工业规模的成本和能源。这项工作可以为生物基包装中基于FDCA的聚酯的可持续合成提供新的见解。