Renewability is not Enough: Recent Advances in the Sustainable Synthesis of Biomass-Derived Monomers and Polymers

Taking advantage of the structural diversity of different biomass resources, recent efforts were directed towards the synthesis of renewable monomers and polymers, either for the substitution of petroleum-based resources or for the design of novel polymers. Not only the use of biomass, but also the development of sustainable chemical approaches is a crucial aspect for the production of sustainable materials. This review discusses the recent examples of chemical modifications and polymerizations of abundant biomass resources with a clear focus on the sustainability of the described processes. Topics such as synthetic methodology, catalysis, and development of new solvent systems or greener alternative reagents are addressed. The chemistry of vegetable oil derivatives, terpenes, lignin, carbohydrates, and sugar-based platform chemicals was selected to highlight the trends in the active field of a sustainable use of renewable resources.

Vegetable-oil-based polymers as future polymeric biomaterials

Vegetable oils are one of the most important classes of bio-resources for producing polymeric materials. The main components of vegetable oils are triglycerides - esters of glycerol with three fatty acids. Several highly reactive sites including double bonds, allylic positions and the ester groups are present in triglycerides from which a great variety of polymers with different structures and functionalities can be prepared. Vegetable-oil-based polyurethane, polyester, polyether and polyolefin are the four most important classes of polymers, many of which have excellent biocompatibilities and unique properties including shape memory. In view of these characteristics, vegetable-oil-based polymers play an important role in biomaterials and have attracted increasing attention from the polymer community. Here we comprehensively review recent developments in the preparation of vegetable-oil-based polyurethane, polyester, polyether and polyolefin, all of which have potential applications as biomaterials.

Renewable polyesters derived from 10-undecenoic acid and vanillic acid with versatile properties

A series of renewable polyesters were synthesized derived from 10-undecenoic acid and vanillic acid. An outstanding feature is that the incorporation of vanillic acid segments into the polyester backbone results in improved mechanical properties.

Antibacterial soybean-oil-based cationic polyurethane coatings prepared from different amino polyols

Antibacterial soybean-oil-based cationic polyurethane (PU) coatings have been successfully prepared from five different amino polyols. The structure and hydroxyl functionality of these amino polyols affects the particle morphology, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and antibacterial properties of the resulting coatings. An increase in the hydroxyl functionality of the amino polyols increases the cross-link density, resulting in an increased glass transition temperature and improved mechanical properties. Both the cross-link density and the amount of ammonium cations incorporated into the PU backbone affect the thermal stability of PU films. PUs with the lowest ammonium cation content and highest cross-link density exhibit the best thermal stability. With some strain-specific exceptions, these PUs show good antibacterial properties toward a panel of bacterial pathogens comprised of Listeria monocytogenes NADC 2045, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 13311 and Salmonella minnesota (S. minnesota) R613. S. minnesota R613 is a "deep rough" mutant lacking a full outer membrane (OM) layer, an important barrier structure in gram-negative bacteria. With wild-type strains, the PU coatings exhibit better antibacterial properties toward the gram-positive Listeria monocytogenes than the gram-negative S. minnesota. However, the coatings have excellent activity against S. minnesota R613, suggesting a protective role for an intact OM against the action of these PUs.