Renewable eugenol-based polymeric oil-absorbent microspheres: Preparation and oil absorption ability

This article reports a novel type of polymeric microspheres derived from a renewable biomass, eugenol, via a facile and effective suspension polymerization approach. On the basis of eugenol and methacryloyl chloride, we first synthesized and then structurally identified the monomer eugenyl methacrylate (E-MA). By using E-MA as the sole monomer and simultaneously as the cross-linking agent, we successfully prepared cross-linked polymeric microspheres through suspension polymerization in aqueous media with 2,2-azoisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as the stabilizer. The resulting microspheres were obtained in high yield with diameters ranging 500-800 μm and exhibited remarkably large oil absorbency in a relatively high speed. The microspheres can be reused for at least five times with little change in maximum absorption. The preparative strategy for the polymeric microspheres can be taken as a versatile platform for preparing more functional polymeric microspheres, which are expected to find significant applications in environmental protection and other fields.