Patent ID: 8865854

Claim:
A process of synthesizing a high molecular weight high functionality natural oil polyol, the process comprising: a) providing a quantity of a small molecular weight polyfunctional cross-linking reagent containing at least four active hydrogen functional groups; b) providing a quantity of a coupling reagent selected from the group consisting of linear coupling reagents, cross-coupling reagents, and combinations thereof; c) forming a mixture including a quantity of a plant oil based unsaturated triglyceride, the quantity of the cross-linking reagent, the quantity of the coupling reagent, and an acid catalyst; and d) reacting the mixture for a period of time of at least three hours; wherein e) the quantity of the coupling reagent is sufficient to provide a final coupling reagent concentration in the reaction, wherein the final coupling reagent concentration is sufficient to synthesize a plant oil based polyol product having a pre-determined molecular weight of between about 2,000 and about 20,000; and f) the quantity of the cross-linking reagent is sufficient to provide a final cross-linking reagent concentration in the reaction, wherein the final cross-linking reagent concentration is sufficient to synthesize a plant oil based polyol product having a pre-determined functionality of from 4 to 8.