Renewable Polyethylene Mimics Derived from Castor Oil

An increasing number of reports on the syntheses of carbohydrate‐ and plant oil‐based polymers has been published in ongoing efforts to produce plastic materials from renewable resources. Although many of these polymers are biodegradable and this is a desirable property for certain applications, in some cases non‐degradable polymers are needed for long‐term use purposes. Polyolefins are one of the most important classes of materials that have already taken their places in our daily life. On the other hand, their production relies on fossil resources. Therefore, within this contribution, we discuss synthetic routes toward a number of polyethylene mimics derived from fatty acids via thiol‐ene and ADMET polymerization reactions in order to establish more sustainable routes toward this important class of polymers. Two different diene monomers were thus prepared from castor oil derived platform chemicals, their polymerization via the two mentioned routes was optimized and compared to each other, and their thermal properties were investigated. Renewable alternatives to polyethylene are discussed within this contribution. Therefore, castor oil derived platform chemicals are converted to two renewable monomers, which are subsequently polymerized to polyethylene like materials via ADMET and thiol‐ene polymerization. Investigation of the materials properties of these materials reveals, for instance, higher degrees of crystallinity, if compared to LLDPE.