A Chinese research team has developed a bio-derived latent accelerator for one-component epoxy resins. The accelerator is synthesized through the Michael addition of itaconic acid and imidazole. Compared to existing alternatives, this new accelerator offers improved storage stability and faster activation. Formulations using the new accelerator showed a shelf life of over 210 days at room temperature, whereas alternatives had a shelf life of less than eight days. The excellent performance is due to steric hindrance and salt formation effects, which suppress reactivity during storage but enable rapid curing when needed. The team characterized the chemical structure of the accelerator using FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and TOF-MS. This development has the potential to improve the efficiency and sustainability of epoxy resin applications, including coatings. The research was published in the journal Green Chemistry, Issue 25, 2025, by Jing et al.
Epoxy resins with bio-based latent accelerator: enhanced storage stability and accelerated curing.
