New (and Old) Monomers from Biorefineries to Make Polymer Chemistry More Sustainable

This opinion article describes recent approaches to use the “biorefinery” concept to lower the carbon footprint of typical mass polymers, by replacing parts of the fossil monomers with similar or even the same monomer made from regrowing dendritic biomass. Herein, the new and green catalytic synthetic routes are for lactic acid (LA), isosorbide (IS), 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), and p‐xylene (pXL). Furthermore, the synthesis of two unconventional lignocellulosic biomass derivable monomers, i.e., α‐methylene‐γ‐valerolactone (MeGVL) and levoglucosenol (LG), are presented. All those have the potential to enter in a cost‐effective way, also the mass market and thereby recover lost areas for polymer materials. The differences of catalytic unit operations of the biorefinery are also discussed and the challenges that must be addressed along the synthesis path of each monomers. The search for less invasive and even degradable polymers can also be addressed by the availability of economic, partly new monomers based on biomass instead of fossil resources. Some elemental processes of biorefinery are reviewed based on lignocellulosic biomass and the monomers they create.