Most current plastics are made from oil,which isunsustainable.Due to dwindling fossil fuel supply and growing environmental concerns,the demand for renewable and green plastics has intensified.
Thus,scientists from theCentre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies(CSCT) at the University of Bath have developed arenewable plastic from pinene,a naturally-occurring chemical species found in pine needles.
Source: © Royal Society of 新利手机客户端Chemistry – From pinene to polyester
According toProfessor Davidson,this would open the way to making new polymers from arenewable source,independent from petrochemicals.The outcomes could be very intense for the environment,and could revolutionise the chemical industry.
Some of the most common bio-derived monomers are α- and β-pinene (from gum turpentine) and D-limonene (from citrus waste),as well as isoprene.The authors believe that the abundance of double bonds in these molecules would allow forefficient cationic and radical polymerisation reactions,as well as epoxidation as a route to biodegradable oxygenated polymers.
Read thefull storyon theUniversity of Bathwebsite.
This article is Open Access.
Matthew D.Joneset al.,Polym.Chem.,2017.DOI:10.1039/C6PY02033J
