Synthesis and Characterization of Epoxidized Silkworm Pupae Oil and Its Application as Polyvinyl Chloride

More and more industries demand environmental friendliness. Silkworm pupae oil (SPO), extracted from the desilked silkworm pupae, can serve as a promising substrate alternative to use in plasticization. This study aimed to prepare epoxidized silkworm pupae oil (ESPO) and investigate their effects on the thermal stability and plasticization of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films. A chemo-enzymatic method of ESPO was developed in the presence of Lipase SMG1-F278N and H 2 O 2 in natural deep eutectic solvents (DESs). Lipase SMG1-F278N could initiate the epoxidation reaction effectively at room temperature with a negligible loss of activities 10 batches. A maximum oxirane value of 6.94% was obtained. The formation of oxirane ring in ESPO was confirmed by FTIR and 13 C NMR spectra. Moreover, ESPO showed a better thermal stability and lower freezing point than epoxidized soybean oil (ESO). It was demonstrated that ESPO had a good frost resistance. In addition, ESPO showed a significantly improved plasticizing effect on flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Compared with ESO, ESPO could increase the tensile elongation at break effectively. A significantly lower migration rate of plasticizer was observed in PVC plasticized with ESPO.