A molecularly engineered bioderived polyphosphonate containing Schiff base towards fire-retardant PLA with enhanced crystallinity and mechanical properties

[Display omitted] •A bioderived Schiff base containing polyphosphonate (PVP) was rationally synthesized.•As-developed PVP has a high biomass content of 72% by mass.•The addition of only 0.5 wt% of PVP can lead to exceptional fire retardancy of PLA.•PVP can increase the mechanical strength of PLA as compared to pure PLA. To expand the practical application and realize sustainable development, it is urgent to develop advanced polylactide composites with fire retardancy and mechanically strong properties by utilizing bio-derived additives. Unfortunately, such desired performance portfolio is still unsatisfactory due to unclear mechanism and improper design strategy. In this paper, a novel bio-derived polyphosphonate containing Schiff base (PVP) was prepared by a two-step method of condensation and addition reactions. By incorporating only 0.5 wt% PVP, the LOI value of PLA is increased to 32.5 vol% as well as achieving a UL-94 V-0 rating. Such superior fire retardancy is ascribed to the physical barrier effect of char residue, which arising from the cyclization of Schiff base and catalytic carbonization of polyphosphonate. Due to the crosslinking reaction between PLA and PVP and nucleating effect of PVP in the PLA matrix, the mechanical strength of PLA is increased by 10.2% with addition of 1.0 wt% PVP. This study provides a feasible way for designing bio-derived fire retardants to simultaneously improving the fire retardancy and mechanical strength of PLA, thus is expected to expand the practical application of PLA materials.