There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Recent Developments in Ring Opening Polymerization of Lactones for Biomedical Applications

Innovative valorization of naturally abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass is of great importance in the pursuit of a sustainable future and biobased economy. Ionic liquids (ILs) as an important kind of green solvents and functional fluids have attracted significant attention for the catalytic transformation of lignocellulosic feedstocks into a diverse range of products. Taking advantage of some unique properties of ILs with different functions, the catalytic transformation processes can be carried out more efficiently and potentially with lower environmental impacts. Also, a new product portfolio may be derived from catalytic systems with ILs as media. This review focuses on the catalytic chemical conversion of lignocellulose and its primary ingredients (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) into value-added chemicals and fuel products using ILs as the reaction media. An outlook is provided at the end of this review to highlight the challenges and opportunities associated with this interes...

Catalytic Transformation of Lignocellulose into Chemicals and Fuel Products in Ionic Liquids

The use of vanillin as a building block for the chemical industry is discussed in this article. Vanillin is currently one of the only molecular phenolic compounds manufactured on an industrial scale from biomass. It has thus the potential to become a key-intermediate for the synthesis of bio-based polymers, for which aromatic monomers are needed to reach good thermo-mechanical properties. After a first part dedicated to the current sourcing of vanillin, this article focuses on the alkaline oxidation lignin-to-vanillin process, reporting advantages and limits, discusses the various postdepolymerization methods for product isolation and finally examines the outlook for the wider use of vanillin as a key building block for the chemical industry.

Vanillin Production from Lignin and Its Use as a Renewable Chemical

Alternative Monomers Based on Lignocellulose and Their Use for Polymer Production.

Exploration of sustainable alternatives to chemicals derived from petro-based industries is the current challenge for maintaining the balance between the needs of a changing world while preserving nature. The major source for sustainable chemicals is either the natural existing plant sources or waste generated from agro-based industries. The utility of such resources will supplement new processed materials with different sets of properties and environmental friendliness due to their biodegradability and low toxicity during preparation, usage and disposal. Amongst other polymers used on a day-to-day basis, phenolic resins account for vast usage. Replacement of petro-based monomers such as phenol and its derivatives either partly or completely utilized for the synthesis of such resins is ongoing. Extraction of natural phenolic components from cashew nut shell liquid, lignin, tannin, palm oil, coconut shell tar or from agricultural and industrial waste, and their utilization as synthons for the preparation of bio-based polymers and properties obtained are reviewed in this paper. This review article is designed to acknowledge efforts of researchers towards the “3C” motto – not only trying to create but also adapting the principles to conserve and care for a sustainable environment. This review paper describes how extraction, separation and recovery of desired phenolic compounds have occurred recently; how substituted phenol compounds, unmodified and modified, act as monomers for polymerization; and how the presence of sustainable phenolic material affects the properties of polymers. There are about 600 references cited and still there is a lot to uncover in this research area.

Naturally occurring phenolic sources: monomers and polymers

A novel benzoxazine monomer (Bz-C) based on agrochemical renewable resource—cardanol (by-product of cashew nut tree, Anacardium occidentale) was synthesized. Bz-C, a liquid monomer, was used as reactive diluent for the solventless synthesis of bisphenol-A benzoxazine monomer (Bz-A). Benzoxazine monomer based on cardanol and bisphenol-A in 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 blend ratio were prepared by this method. The resins had Brookfield viscosity at 316 K in the range of 145–81,533 mPa s. The resins were characterized by 1H-NMR, FTIR and elemental analysis. Curing characteristics were studied by DSC analysis. Thermal stability of cured resins was found to improve with increase in Bz-C content in the blends.

Thermal behaviour of cardanol-based benzoxazines Monomers and polymers

High-energy electrochemical storage containing earth abundant materials could be a choice for future battery development. Recent research reports indicated the possibility of room-temperature sodium-ion–sulfur chemistry for large storage including smart grids. Here, we report a room-temperature sodium–sulfur battery cathode that will address the native downsides of a sodium–sulfur battery, such as polysulfide shuttling and low electrical conductivity of elemental sulfur. In this Letter, we use a sustainable route which ensures a large sulfur confinement (i.e., ∼90 wt %) in the cathode structure. The sulfur-embedded polymer is realized via thermal ring-opening polymerization of benzoxazine in the presence of elemental sulfur (CS90) and later composite with reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The resulting CS90 allows a homogeneous distribution of sulfur due to in situ formation of the polymer backbone and allows maximum utilization of sulfur. This unique electrode structure bestows CS90–rGO with an excellent Cou...

Sulfur Copolymer: A New Cathode Structure for Room-Temperature Sodium–Sulfur Batteries

High-energy solid rocket propellants are composite materials having a binder [hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB)], high-energy additives [e.g., ammonium perchlorate (AP)], and pyrolants (metal...

Azido Polymers—Energetic Binders for Solid Rocket Propellants

We report on the preparation of hexa-functional cardanol (renewable phenolic compound) benzoxazine with a phosphazene core (CPN) for use as a greener eco-friendly halogen-free flame retardant reactive additive for the formation of sustainable polyphosphazene polybenzoxazine networks for flame resistant applications. The structure and purity of the monomer was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-, 13C-, 31P NMR) and gel permeation chromatography studies. The CPN monomer showed good compatibility with benzoxazine monomer (CPN0) as suggested by the cocuring studies. The thermal properties of the copolymer can be directly tuned by altering the composition of the monomer blend. The occurrence of phosphazene–phosphazane thermal rearrangement is also suggested for the thermal behavior (thermogravimetry analysis) at higher loading of CPN in the monomer feed ratio. An improvement in mechanical properties of the copolymer with increase in glass transition temperature was c...

Bimlesh Lochab

Papers

Naturally occurring phenolic sources: monomers and polymers

Thermal behaviour of cardanol-based benzoxazines Monomers and polymers

Sulfur Copolymer: A New Cathode Structure for Room-Temperature Sodium–Sulfur Batteries

Azido Polymers—Energetic Binders for Solid Rocket Propellants

Eco-friendly halogen-free flame retardant cardanol polyphosphazene polybenzoxazine networks