New Polymers Made from Isoidide and Isomannide

Do you know new polymers have been made using isoidide and isomannide

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, U.K., and Duke University, U.S., have created a new family of polymers from sustainable sources that retain all of the same qualities as common plastics, but are also degradable and mechanically recyclable

The researchers made the new polymers using isoidide and isomannide, which are made from sugar alcohols, as building blocks. They found that the isoidide-based polymer, showed a stiffness and malleability similar to common plastics, and a strength that is similar to high grade engineering plastics such as Nylon-6. Despite isoidide and isomannide only differing by the 3D spatial orientation of two bonds, known as stereochemistry, the isomannide-based material had similar strength and toughness but also showed high elasticity, recovering its shape after deformation. The researchers found that these polymers can be blended together to yield materials with improved properties

Notably, the materials retained their excellent mechanical properties following pulverisation and thermal processing, which is the usual method for mechanically recycling plastics

Ref: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c10278

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