Yasuke Murata
Section Manager, Kururay
Yusuke Murata is an R&D Manager and Research Scientist at Kuraray Co., Ltd., with over 20 years of experience in industrial research and development. He specializes in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and catalytic chemistry, focusing on the development of novel monomers and polymer materials. Throughout his career, he has been extensively involved in all stages of the R&D process, including molecular design, polymer property characterization, application development, customer engagement, and production technology development. He holds a master’s degree in engineering and has contributed to 34 patent families, including unpublished applications, as well as one peer-reviewed scientific publication. His current interests lie in creating innovative polymer materials through integrated chemical and process design.
3-Methyl-1,5-Pentanediol for Low-Viscosity Polyols and Polyurethane Adhesives
We demonstrate that 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol (MPD) is an effective diol component for reducing polyol viscosity, thereby enabling the formulation of two-component polyurethane adhesives that combine high adhesion and durability with practical processing viscosity.
Two-component polyurethane adhesives, particularly those used in lamination applications, are required to provide strong adhesion, heat and humidity resistance, and sufficient flexibility to accommodate deformation. However, polyol designs that improve these properties generally also increase viscosity, making it difficult to achieve both high performance and good processability. Polyester polyols (PEsPs), for example, are often selected when high adhesion and durability are required, and increasing the isophthalic acid (IPA) content or introducing trifunctional components are common strategies for further enhancing these properties. However, such modifications also tend to increase resin viscosity. To address this issue, we focused on MPD as a diol monomer.
MPD has two key structural features. First, its five-carbon backbone provides greater chain mobility than conventional short-chain diols such as ethylene glycol and 1,4-butanediol. Second, its methyl-branched structure reduces intermolecular interactions. Together, these features promote an amorphous character and lower the viscosity of PEsPs. For example, even in PEsPs with high IPA content or increased trifunctionality, which would otherwise tend to exhibit high viscosity, incorporation of MPD allows the polyol structure to be designed within a practical viscosity range. These results indicate that MPD is a useful monomer for developing adhesives that achieve high adhesion and durability while maintaining practical processability.
In this presentation, we report the properties of these PEsPs and the performance of two-component polyurethane adhesives prepared from them.
Co-author(s):
Ryosuke Ueno, Hidetoshi Matsuno, Mayu Arai
Breakout Session XV – Next-Generation Adhesives & Sealants Chemistry – 18 September 2026 – 12:30 – 13:00 – Room Churchill – GF