Plant oils with their long linear methylene sequences are attractive substrates for polymeric materials, such as long-chain aliphatic polyesters and polyamides. Existing biotechnological routes for their conversion to long-chain linear a,ro-dicarboxylic acid derivatives have recently been complemented by chemical catalytic conversions. This contribution discusses and compares the conversion of ...

Degradable polymers are beginning to play an increasing role as materials for environmental and medical applications. Understanding factors that control erosion, such as bond cleavage and the dissolution and diffusion of degradation products, will be critical to the future development of these materials. Erosion kinetics, photomicroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy were used to understand the er...

Effects of hyperbranched polyesters on kinetics of the reaction between hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) were investigated. HTPB and IPDI were in-situ cured in the presence of two different hyperbranched polyesters, stearic acid ester-terminated hyperbranched polyester (SHPE) and acetate-terminated hyperbranched polyester (AHPE). The curing processes w...

The vast majority of commodity materials are obtained from petrochemical feedstocks. These resources will plausibly be depleted within the next 100 years, and the peak in global oil production is estimated to occur within the next few decades. In this regard, biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource for the production of polymers. Here we report a new strategy, based on ...

Racemic omega-substituted caprolactones can be completely converted into chiral polyesters of remarkable MW and high ee by combining lipase-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization with Ru-catalyzed racemization.

Cobalt-catalyzed step growth polymerization of undec-10-en-1-ol and CO affords aliphatic polyesters (Mn > 10(4) g mol(-1)) based entirely on renewable resources.