Chemo-Enzymatic Synthesis of Chiral Epoxides Ethyl and Methyl (S)-3-(Oxiran-2-yl)propanoates from Renewable Levoglucosenone: An Access to Enantiopure (S)-Dairy Lactone

Polymers without Petrochemicals: Sustainable Routes to Conventional Monomers

Access to a wide range of plastic materials has been rationalized by the increased demand from growing populations and the development of high-throughput production systems. Plastic materials at low costs with reliable properties have been utilized in many everyday products. Multibillion-dollar companies are established around these plastic materials, and each polymer takes years to optimize, secure intellectual property, comply with the regulatory bodies such as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and the Environmental Protection Agency and develop consumer confidence. Therefore, developing a fully sustainable new plastic material with even a slightly different chemical structure is a costly and long process. Hence, the production of the common plastic materials with exactly the same chemical structures that does not require any new registration processes better reflects the reality of how to address the critical future of sustainable plastics. In this review, we have highlighted the very recent examples on the synthesis of common monomers using chemicals from sustainable feedstocks that can be used as a like-for-like substitute to prepare conventional petrochemical-free thermoplastics.

Sustainable Synthesis and Polycondensation of Levoglucosenone-Cyrene-Based Bicyclic Diol Monomer: Access to Renewable Polyesters

The already-reported, low-yielding, and non-sustainable Et₃ N-mediated homocoupling of levoglucosenone (LGO) into the corresponding LGO-Cyrene^TM diketone has been revisited and greened-up. The use of methanol as both a renewable solvent and catalyst and K₂ CO₃ as a safe inorganic base improved the reaction significantly with regards to yield, purification, and green aspects. LGO-Cyrene^TM was then subjected to a one-pot, H₂ O₂ -mediated Baeyer-Villiger oxidation/rearrangement followed by an acidic hydrolysis to produce a new sterically hindered bicyclic monomer, 2H-HBO-HBO. This diol was further polymerized in bulk with diacyl chlorides to access new promising renewable polyesters that exhibit glass transition temperatures (T_g ) from -1 to 81 °C and a good thermostability with a temperature at which 50 % of the mass is lost (T_d50 % ) of 349-406 °C.

Making natural products from renewable feedstocks: back to the roots?

This review highlights the utilization of biomass-derived building blocks in the total synthesis of natural products.

Synthesis and polymerization of bio-based acrylates: a review

Acrylates and polyacrylates have been produced massively due to their interesting applications like Plexiglas.

Total Synthesis and Structure Revision of Diplobifuranylone B

An asymmetric total synthesis of diplobifuranylone B was achieved in 10 steps for the longest linear sequence and in 15.8% overall yield from commercially available methyl (R)-(+)-lactate and l-glutamic acid. This synthesis features a stereoselective construction of the key 2,5-dihydrofuran ring in the natural product via a recently developed asymmetric gold catalysis. The stereochemical flexibility offered by the catalysis enables an expedient revision of the reported structure of diplobifuranylone B, where the relative stereochemistry of the 2,5-dihydrofuran moiety was previously misassigned as cis instead of trans.

Towards the Shell Biorefinery: Sustainable Synthesis of the Anticancer Alkaloid Proximicin A from Chitin

A shell biorefinery would involve fractionation of crustacean shells and incorporation of the components into value-added products, particularly those that contain nitrogen. In a proof-of-concept study that validates this concept, the anticancer alkaloid proximicin A has been synthesized from the chitin-derived platform chemical 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran (3A5AF). This study accentuates the leading role chitin is likely to play in the sustainable production of nitrogen-containing fine chemicals that are not directly attainable from lignocellulose.