The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

Polymers containing lipoic acid (LA), a 1,2-dithiolane ring, have gained attention for applications in self-healing coatings, sustainable adhesives, and dynamic polymer networks. LA polymerizes via disulfide ring opening, enabling reversible bonding through disulfide exchange. In this study, BDLA, synthesized by esterifying LA with 1,4-butanediol (BDO), was used as a ring opening at both ends photocrosslinker for acrylic prepolymers, enabling reversible polymerization and degradation. Disulfide bond cleavage was performed by both reductive cleavage using a reducing agent and thermal cleavage by heating in DMF. GPC was used to analyze the evaluation of molecular weight changes after disulfide bond cleavage. Mechanical properties such as peel strength, strain-stress curve were measured using a universal testing machine (UTM). Thermal stability and transitions were assessed through TGA, DSC, and DMA to evaluate the performance of LA-based dynamic adhesive materials.