Controlling water uptake of sugar based epoxy resins

Epoxy resins made from natural materials have numerous advantages over those made from petroleum derived chemicals. Isosorbide and its isomers, isomannide and isoidide, can react similarly to bisphenol A to produce diglycidyl ethers that may be used as epoxy resins. These materials have comparable mechanical properties to bisphenol A based epoxies when produced under similar conditions. However, the sugar derived epoxies take up a significant amount of water, which is detrimental to their use in many applications. Modification of these materials with hydrophobic molecules may be an effective method of reducing water uptake.