Catalysis for Monomers and Polymers from Renewable Resources

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2021) | Viewed by 6866

Special Issue Editors

Chemical Process & Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 6th km. Charilaou—Thermi Rd., Thermi, GR-57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: Catalytic reaction engineering; Refinery processes (fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocraking, hydrodesulfurization, isomerization, reforming); Production of reformulated fuels and biofuels and biochemical; Catalyst deactivation, characterization and evaluation; Thermochemical processes of biomass and coal conversion (pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis, gasification); Biorefinery processes; Production and upgrading of biofuels

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable, environmentally friendly polymers from renewable resources are considered benign alternatives for petrochemical plastics. Biobased polymers can be obtained through chemical modification of natural polymers, but they can also be synthesized via a two-step process from biomass (lignin, cellulose, starch, plant oils). Production of value-added co-products, such as monomers from biomass, along-side biofuels through integrated biorefinery processes is beneficial. Drop-in monomers, such as ethylene, or terephthalic acid, or new monomers like 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, isosorbide, lactic acid, and vanillic acid, can be obtained through chemical or biochemical conversion. Polymerization of bioderived monomers enables production of bioplastics including biopolyethylene, bio-poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(lactic acid), or poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF). Finally, CO2 can be also used as monomer in polymer synthesis.

Most biobased monomers are currently derived from fermentation or biotechnology. Chemocatalytic processes can also be used to arrive to both drop in and new bioplastic precursors. In fact, such processes are emerging in an effort to tackle challenges related with fermentation.

This Special Issue, entitled “Catalysis for Monomers and Polymers from Renewable Resources,” will include research papers and reviews, reflecting the state-of-the-art developments in the field of heterogenous catalysis, homogenous catalysis and biocatalysis in monomer production from biomass, and also catalysis in biobased polymer synthesis.

Prof. Dr. George Z. Papageorgiou
Dr. Angelos Lappas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Renewable resources
  • Monomers from biomass
  • 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid
  • Sustainable polymers
  • Heterogenous catalysis
  • Homogenous catalysis
  • Biocatalysis
  • Green materials
  • Biorefinery
  • Benign synthesis of polymers

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 7830 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Esterification Catalysts in the Synthesis of Poly(Ethylene Vanillate)
by Eleftheria Xanthopoulou, Alexandra Zamboulis, Zoi Terzopoulou, Margaritis Kostoglou, Dimitrios N. Bikiaris and George Z. Papageorgiou
Catalysts 2021, 11(7), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11070822 - 06 Jul 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2851
Abstract
Over the last few decades, bio-based polymers have attracted considerable attention from both academic and industrial fields regarding the minimization of the environmental impact arising from the excessive use of petrochemically-based polymeric materials. In this context, poly(ethylene vanillate) (PEV), an alipharomatic polyester prepared [...] Read more.
Over the last few decades, bio-based polymers have attracted considerable attention from both academic and industrial fields regarding the minimization of the environmental impact arising from the excessive use of petrochemically-based polymeric materials. In this context, poly(ethylene vanillate) (PEV), an alipharomatic polyester prepared from 4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-3-methoxybenzoic acid, a monomer originating from lignin-derived vanillic acid, has shown promising thermal and mechanical properties. Herein, the effects of three different catalysts, namely titanium butoxide (TBT), titanium isopropoxide (TIS), and antimony trioxide (Sb2O3), on the synthesis of PEV via a two-stage melt polycondensation method are investigated. The progress of the reaction is assessed using various complementary techniques, such as intrinsic viscosity measurement (IV), end group analysis (AV), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal stability of the produced polyesters is studied by evolved gas analysis mass spectrometry (EGA-MS). Moreover, as the discoloration in polymers affects their applications, color measurement is performed here. Finally, theoretical kinetic studies are carried out to rationalize the experimental observations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis for Monomers and Polymers from Renewable Resources)
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12 pages, 2190 KiB  
Article
Atom-economical Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(oxindolidene thienylene vinylene) Based on Aldol Polycondensation Reaction
by Shingo Sato, Po-Shen Lin, Wei-Ni Wu, Cheng-Liang Liu and Tomoya Higashihara
Catalysts 2020, 10(4), 364; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10040364 - 28 Mar 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3065
Abstract
It is known that π-conjugated polymers can be easily synthesized using monomers which possess metals or halogen atoms as well as transition-metal catalysts. However, in the polymer materials synthesized by such reactions, small amounts of halogens and transition-metal-catalysts remain, often negatively affecting their [...] Read more.
It is known that π-conjugated polymers can be easily synthesized using monomers which possess metals or halogen atoms as well as transition-metal catalysts. However, in the polymer materials synthesized by such reactions, small amounts of halogens and transition-metal-catalysts remain, often negatively affecting their optoelectronic device performances. Herein, we report a new polycondensation method based on the aldol condensation reaction utilizing the intramolecular resonance effect of the anionic monomer through π-conjugation. We have designed a novel AB type monomer to synthesize the semiconducting poly(oxindolidene thienylene vinylene) (POTV) using the proposed system. Indeed, the polymerization readily proceeded by adding 5-nitro-2-thiophenecarbaldehyde as an initiator after the α-proton abstraction of the oxindole group by the reaction of the monomer precursor with lithium hexamethylsilazide (LiHMDS)/12-crown-4. As a result, the objective POTV with Mn = 3700 and ÐM = 1.47 could be obtained with a good yield (65%). In addition, an organic field effect transistor (OFET) was based on POTV exhibited p-type characteristics, with a hole mobility of 2.24 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis for Monomers and Polymers from Renewable Resources)
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