Since years, an increasing pressure is felt to convert the polymer materials industry from its oil-based routes to a biobased economy. Many polymers and materials have in the past been invented and most notably poly(lactic acid) has conquered the market and has become available as a commodity product. Yet, most available biobased materials are polyesters and polyamides (due to the abundance of the required functional groups in nature), vinylic polymers that form stable carbon-carbon backbones are scarecly seen. To replace existing processes and base materials, however, also radically polymerizable monomers from biofeedstocks are required to cover the whole range of applications in which polymers and plastic materials are used.<br/>We describe several approaches towards sustainable monomer and polymer synthesis. Starting from bio-derived functional dienes, we discuss how less reactive monomers can be effectively polymerized. Flow chemistry is hereby used as a tool to foster higher efficiencies and product yields. In a second part, we will discuss how virtually any alcohol, i.e. terpinols, can be directly reacted with acrylic acid to form functional acrylate and acrylamide monomers in a continuous flow process. Via reaction telescoping, these monomers are then directly polymerized, giving rise to a green chemical process that does not require tedious intermediate product isolation. Next to using bio-based materials, flow processes constiute green chemical synthesis as such, due to the lowered energy demand of these processes and possibility to use generally more benign reaction conditions.

Biobased monomer synthesis and their sustainable radical polymerization

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.