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Green Route to Prepare Renewable Polyesters from Monomers:
Enzymatic Polymerization
Toufik Naolou
Institute of Biomaterial Science and Berlin-Brandenburg Centre for Regenerative Therapies, Helmholtz-Zentrum
Geesthacht, Teltow, Germany
7.1 Philosophic Statement Toufik Naolou
Enzymatic polymerization has emerged in the last two decades due to their advantages
for polymer synthesis compared to conventional catalysts. Besides the nontoxicity,
enzymes can also support sustainably the synthesis of polymer by allowing the poly-
merization process to be conducted under mild conditions and in a shorter time.
Additionally, enzymes allow clean synthesis of linear and comb-like polyesters with
free reactive groups, such as double bond, hydroxyl, thiol, or epoxy groups, in one
step without the need for protection/deprotection steps, which otherwise would be
necessary when conventional catalysts are used for such synthesis. These unique
features of enzymes make them suitable candidate for the green synthesis of polyesters.
7.2 Introduction
The last century had witnessed a revolutionary advance toward the development of
novel materials that could meet the needs of our modern life. Polymers, indeed, occupy
a prominent place among these materials, with a worldwide demand in excess of 393
million tons in 2013 [1]. Polymers have become indispensable for our today’s life, due
to their superior advantages and properties such as attractive cost/performance ratio,
rapid production with low cost, ease of processing, low weight, high mechanical perfor-
mance, good barrier properties, good heat stability, and excellent corrosion resistance
[2–4]. Albeit, since the late 1980s of the last century, the concept of “green chemistry” or
sustainable chemistry started to emerge mostly driven by dwindling of fossil resources,
global warming, and environmental concerns caused by hazardous chemical processes,
nondegradable waste, harmful emissions, and so on. The number of researches in the
field of green chemistry increase steadily every year [5]. Thus it is not surprising to
recognize the efforts made in the field of polymer science during the last two decades
toward optimized synthetic pathways to meet the requirements of green chemistry
concept and produce novel sustainable polymers that are able to be alternatives to
the existing "petro-polymers" with competitive performance properties and price but
Introduction to Renewable Biomaterials: First Principles and Concepts,First Edition.
Edited by Ali S. Ayoub and Lucian A. Lucia.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
