Cellulose is widely derived from plant matter and can be converted into molecules that can be used to create new recyclable polymers that provide sustainable alternatives to some plastics. Researchers at Hokkaido University have taken a major step toward creating recyclable and stable plastics from plant materials. This is a key requirement to reduce the burden of plastic pollution in the environment.

Scientists have devised a way to produce a recyclable and stable polymer from cellulose, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics. This research result provides new possibilities for the production of environmentally friendly materials. The picture above shows a transparent film made of a new recyclable polymer developed in this research. Source: FengLi

They developed a convenient, versatile method to create a variety of polymers using chemicals extracted from plant cellulose; best of all, the polymers are fully recyclable. The method was published in the journal ACS Macro Letters.

Cellulose is one of the most abundant components of plant biomass and is a key part of the tough cell walls surrounding all plant cells. Cellulose is easily obtained from plant wastes such as straw and sawdust, so using cellulose as a feedstock for polymer production does not reduce agricultural land used for food production. Cellulose is a long-chain polysaccharide polymer composed of multiple sugar groups (especially glucose) linked by chemical bonds.

To create the new polymer, the Hokkaido research team used two commercially available small molecules, levoglucosenone (LGO) and dihydrolevoglycosenone (Cyrene), which are made from cellulose. They developed novel chemical processes to convert LGO and Cyrene into various non-natural polysaccharide polymers. By changing the precise chemical structure of the polymer, different materials can be generated for a variety of possible applications.

"The biggest challenge we face is controlling the polymerization reaction that links smaller monomer molecules together, and obtaining polysaccharide materials that are stable enough for common applications, while also being able to be broken down and recycled under specific chemical conditions."

From left, Toshifumi Sato, Yuta Minamizu, Feng Li and Takuya Isono of the research team. Image source: Li Feng

Li added that the biggest surprise during the research was that the polymer films they produced were highly transparent, which may be critical for the specialized applications for which these polymers appear to be best suited. Professor Toshifumi Satoh, another corresponding author, added: Since these materials are quite hard and may be difficult to use as flexible plastic materials such as plastic bags, I think they are more suitable for use as high-performance materials in optical, electronic and biomedical applications.

Other research groups around the world are also exploring the potential of using plants to make plastics in place of polymers, and some of these "bioplastics" are already commercially available, but Sato's group adds an important new opportunity to this rapidly growing field.

The team now plans to explore many more possibilities, but the number of possible structural variations is so vast that they hope to join forces with experts in computational chemistry, artificial intelligence and automated synthesis to explore these options.

"We hope this work will lead to the development of a variety of useful non-natural polysaccharide polymers as part of a sustainable synthetic closed loop from biomass to efficient recycling."

Compiled from:ScitechDaily