Advances in Bio-based Thermosetting Polymers

Abstract

To face climate changes and the foreseeable depletion of fossil oil, our societies are forced to modify their ways of life. In particular, we have to quickly switch towards non‐carbon‐based alternatives to produce energy, as well as to develop a biobased chemistry to provide all the consumer goods that are currently supplied by petrochemistry. Plastics in the broadest sense of the word are the first target to address. Indeed, two‐thirds of the production of phenol and its derivatives is dedicated to the synthesis of plastics (including polycarbonates, epoxy resins, phenolic resins, nylon) and detergents. Polyphenolic polymers, lignins and tannins, have long been used to replace phenol in thermosetting materials. More recently, research strategies are moving towards depolymerization processes to access higher added value applications. At the same time, synthesis routes to produce modular polyfunctional building blocks, including bisphenol analogues, are being developed from commercial products. Those building blocks may, one day, be available as chemicals for biobased polyphenolic polymers