Abstract
An innovative and eco-friendly one-pot synthesis of bio-based polyurethanes is proposed via the epoxy-ring opening of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with methanol, followed by the reaction of methoxy bio-polyols intermediates with 2,6-tolyl-diisocyanate (TDI). Both synthetic steps, methanolysis and polyurethane linkage formation, are promoted by a unique catalyst, molybdenum(VI) dichloride dioxide (MoCl&sub2;O&sub2;), which makes this procedure an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally safer method amenable to industrial scale-up.