For almost a century, petrochemical-based monomers like acrylates have been widely used as the basis for coatings, resins, and paints. The development of sustainable alternatives, integrating the principles of green chemistry in starting material, synthesis process, and product function, offers tremendous challenges for science and society. Here, we report on alkoxybutenolides as a bio-based alternative for acrylates and the formation of high-performance coatings. Starting from biomass-derived furfural and an environmentally benign photochemical conversion using visible light and oxygen in a flow reactor provides the alkoxybutenolide monomers. This is followed by radical (co)polymerization, which results in coatings with tunable properties for applications on distinct surfaces like glass or plastic. The performance is comparable to current petrochemical-derived industrial coatings.

Petrochemical based polymers,p aints and coatings are cornerstones of modern industry but our future sustainable society demands greener processes and renewable feedstock materials.Achallenge is to access platform monomers from biomass resources while integrating the principles of green chemistry in their chemical synthesis.W ep resent as ynthesis route starting from biomass-derived furfural towards the commonly used monomers maleic anhydride and acrylic acid, implementing environmentally benign photooxygenation, aerobic oxidation and ethenolysis reactions.Maleic anhydride and acrylic acid, transformed into sodium acrylate,w ere isolated in yields of 85 %( 2s teps) and 81 %( 4s teps), respectively.With minimal waste and high atom efficiency,this biobased route provides av iable alternative to access key monomers.

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Paints and coatings are widely used in modern society and their current production is mainly dependent on the petrochemical industry. The establishment of processes using sustainable alternative monomers based on...

The upscaling of biphasic photochemical reactions is challenging because of the inherent constraints of liquid-gas mixing and light penetration. Using semi-permeable coaxial flow chemistry within a modular photoreactor, the photooxidation...