The development of vegetable oil derivatives for a variety of uses such as comonomers and reactive surfactants (surfmers) in emulsion polymerization and reactive diluents for latexes are key targets of TRRG. As comonomers, vegetable oil macromonomers (VOMMs) act as plasticizers to facilitate film formation in latexes without requiring coalescing solvents that constitute volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Upon application, VOMMs transition from plasticizing monomer(s) to reactive monomers therby increasing polymer performance via auto-oxidative crosslinking over time. VOMM-based latexes have been successfully incorporated into architectural coatings, industrial coatings, and paper coatings.

TRRG has been able to incorporate more than 50% VOMM into latexes. Research continues to develop VOMM-based surfmers that offer the option of eliminating surfactants from the latex formulations thereby improving their moisture resistance. Reactive diluents with higher levels of unsaturation have been designed for post-synthesis addition to latexes where they impart property enhancements by chemically combining with oxygen during film formation. VOMMs are also under evaluation in ultraviolet (UV) curable materials as flexibility enhancing coreactants.