Biopolymers - Food and Industrial Bioproducts and Bioprocessing - page 279

-diene monomers is suitable for the synthesis of fatty acid-based
biodegradable polyesters via ADMET polymerization (Rybak and Meier, 2008; Fokou and
Meier, 2009, 2010). Since the material properties of the polymers strongly depend on the
polymer structure, it is important to establish and suppress the olefin isomerization trend
observed during ADMET polymerizations. Recently, an

The synthesis of α , ω

-diene monomer from methyl
10-undecenoate and 1,3-propanediol was first ADMET polymerized; then transesterification
(with MeOH) products of this polymer were analyzed by GC-MS to establish the degree of
isomerization (Fokou and Meier, 2010). The results revealed that the use of benzoquinone
can prevent olefin isomerization efficiently, leading to the preparation of polymers with
well-defined repeating units via ADMET of functional group containing monomers.
Moreover, ADMET polymerization of fatty acid-derived dienes is also applicable to
phosphorous-containing monomers, leading to flame retardant renewable polymers
(Montero de Espinosa et al ., 2009 , 2010 ). Linear polymers with different phosphorous
contents were prepared by copolymerization of a phosphorous and a non-phosphorous
containing monomer, revealing that approximately 3% phosphorous content resulted in a
limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 23.5, whereas an LOI of 19.0 was obtained for the polymer
without phosphorous. Thus, the flame retardancy was significantly increased. In case of the
cross-linked polymers, the LOI values increased from 18.4 to 25.7 with increasing
phosphorous content from 0 to 3.8%.

α , ω

11.4 CONCLUSION

As highlighted in this chapter there are encouraging carbohydrate- and plant oil-based
polymers that could substitute, at least partially, mineral oil-based materials which are in the
market today. Although some renewable polymeric materials are already commercialized,
others are still not economically feasible for large scale production. However, the declining
fossil oil reserves might change the price advantage of petroleum-based polymers soon.
Moreover, the advances in pure scientific and engineering knowledge on generating platform
chemicals, polymer building blocks, and plastic materials from renewable resources will
definitely help with use of sustainable resource utilization globally in the future. Considering
the depleting fossil fuel reservoirs, the switch from petroleum-based products to renewable
ones must be realized soon and these efforts should led by universities, industrial R&D
departments, and local and federal governments.

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