Epoxidation of Novel Wild Jack Fruit Seed Oil: Effect of Temperature

Abstract

Bio-based epoxy system have acquired scientific attention due to their renewability, easy availability, low cost, bio degradability and reduced toxicity. Vegetable seed oils are promising source for the preparation of bio-epoxy networks. In the present work, oil was extracted from wild jack fruit (Artocarpus Hirsutus) seeds using petroleum ether and was found to be ~19 %. The fatty acid composition of wild jack fruit seed oil (WJO) analyzed using gas chromatography revealed an unsaturation content of ~42 % which was further confirmed by iodine value. The extracted WJO was epoxidized with insitu formed peroxy-acetic acid at three different temperatures viz. 45 oC,60 oC and 75 oC using sulphuric acid as the catalyst resulting in epoxidized wild jackfruit seed oil (EWJO). The titrimetric determination of iodine value and oxirane value and the spectroscopic investigation using proton NMR suggests 60 oC as the optimum temperature for the epoxidation of wild jackfruit seed oil.