Tandem synthesis of alternating polyesters from renewable resources

TLDR

Most commodity materials are derived from petrochemical feedstocks that are likely to deplete within a century, so biomass—an abundant carbon‑neutral renewable resource—is increasingly seen as a viable alternative for polymer production. The authors aim to develop a tandem‑catalysis strategy to produce renewable polyesters. They employ commercially available catalyst complexes to cyclize dicarboxylic acids into anhydrides, then auto‑tandem copolymerize these with epoxides to yield alternating aliphatic polyesters. This operationally simple method offers an attractive route to biodegradable alternating polyesters. Citation: Robertet et al.

Abstract

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 tandem catalysis, to obtain renewable materials. Commercially available complexes are found to be efficient catalysts for alternating polyesters from the cyclization of dicarboxylic acids followed by alternating copolymerization of the resulting anhydrides with epoxides. This operationally simple method is an attractive strategy for the production of new biodegradable polyesters. Biomass-derived monomers are a renewable resource for the production of polymers. Robertet al. develop an auto-tandem catalytic transformation for the synthesis of aliphatic polyesters—'activated' monomers are prepared from dicarboxylic acids, which can be copolymerized with epoxides.