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Levoglucosenone: a promising renewable building block for functional acrylic polymers
Researchers demonstrate the potential of levoglucosenone (LGO) as a renewable feedstock for bio-based acrylic polymers. With high thermal stability and versatile functionalisation, LGO-based polymers offer sustainable alternatives to petrochemical-derived materials.
The shift towards renewable materials in polymer science has gained momentum as industries look to reduce their reliance on petrochemicals. A new study explores the utilisation of levoglucosenone (LGO), a readily available bio-based platform molecule, as a sustainable feedstock for the synthesis of functional acrylic polymers.
The research focuses on the development of LGO-acrylate (LGOA), a bio-derived monomer featuring an internal unsaturated carbon–carbon bond within its bicyclic ring. Using PET-RAFT polymerisation, the study achieved a 95 % conversion of the acrylate group within six hours, while maintaining the integrity of the internal unsaturated bond in the LGO pendant group. The resulting homopolymer exhibited a high glass transition temperature of up to 118 °C and excellent thermal stability.
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Versatile copolymerisation and functionalisation
LGOA was successfully copolymerised with n-butyl acrylate (BA) under bulk and emulsion conditions, yielding polymers with glass transition temperatures below room temperature. Furthermore, the researchers employed thiol–ene ‘click’ chemistry for post-polymerisation modifications, leveraging the double bonds in LGO pendant groups to create functionalised and crosslinked polymer networks.
These findings highlight LGO’s potential as a renewable scaffold for producing bio-derived polymer systems with tunable properties. The study demonstrates LGO’s versatility and sustainability, making it an attractive candidate for reducing dependency on fossil fuels in polymer synthesis.
Source: Sheers, H. C., Stanfield, M. K., Smith, J. A. & Thickett, S. C., The renewable feedstock levoglucosenone as a building block for the development of bio-derived, functional acrylic polymers. Polymer Chemistry, Issue 2025.
