Electrochemical Polymer and Polymer Additive Synthesis from Biobased Vanillin and Syringaldehyde

摘要

In recent years the field of biobased polymers and materials has drawn much attention due to oil depletion and environmental concerns regarding petrochemical processes. Lignin is the world's second most abundant renewable biopolymer. In comparison to cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer, the potential of lignin is sparsely valorized. Currently, lignin is considered as a waste stream in the pulp and paper industry and is used almost only energetically on a 10~7 ton per year scale. However, recent findings showed that lignin can be electrochemically depolymerized selectively to the monomeric compounds vanillin and syringaldehyde. Due to lignin's abundance and good mechanical as well as thermal behavior of the depolymerization products, they have the potential to become key intermediates in the field of high performance biobased polymers and polymer additives.