Renewable feedstock oxidation,

The second reaction that we wish to describe is that of the aerobic oxidation of a-pinene, which is a bicyclic monoterpene with an oxidizable double bond. The use of such a renewable feedstock in the production of chemicals is considered as the first step towards greening the life cycle of chemical products. In this context, oxidation a-pinene, which occurs widely in the plant kingdom, may be viewed as an important reaction because its oxidation products... 

Use renewable feedstocks Use raw materials and feedstocks that are renewable rather than depleting. Renewable feedstocks are often made from agricultural and forest products or are the wastes of other processes depleting feedstocks are made from fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, or coal) or are mined. Another advantage of renewable feedstocks is that often the oxidation state of the feedstock is often close to that of the desired product. This simplifies and reduces the number and extent of chemical transformations necessary in a synthetic pathway. 

Renewable feedstocks can also be used as the raw materials for the synthesis of green, biodegradable polymers. A pertinent example is polylactate, derived from lactic acid which is produced by fermentation (see earlier). Another recent example is the production of polycarbonates by reaction of C02 with (R)-limonene oxide in the presence of a zinc catalyst (Fig. 8.47) [221]. 

Until now, 1,2-propylene glycol has been chemically manufactured only by the petrochemical pathway via hydration of propylene oxide with excess water in the presence of acid or base catalyst. But the mentioned manufacture process based on the renewable feedstock sucrose might become interesting on depletion of the petrochemical feedstock. 

Main renewable feedstock for the production of AA is oleic acid (OA), which is cleaved to A A and pelargonic acid (PA) by ozonolysis [7]. Although various catalysts and oxidants [5, 9] for the cleavage of C18 fatty acids and their derivatives to AA have been described in the scientific literature, these have not been used... 

Oxidative Conversion of Renewable Feedstock Carbohydrate Oxidation... 

Basic and applied research efforts show that the oxidative transformation of renewable feedstocks represents a promising approach for the production of high-value chemicals under environmentally acceptable conditions. Many laboratory-scale processes are carried out under mild conditions, and the employment of molecular oxygen ensures ecological and economic advantages. In these processes, a crucial role is played by the catalytic step that requires a specific selectivity toward the desired product. In principle, either enzymatic catalysis or chemical catalysis can be effectively employed in a given process and, in some cases, the performance of the different processes is quite similar as presented in the following sections. 

The use of renewable feedstocks (i.e., biomass) in the production of fuels and value-added chemicals has attracted major interest from researchers and governments because of the anticipated shortages of traditional petrochemical industrial feedstocks [199]. An excellent overview of the milestones relating to the use of bioderived alcohols in the synthesis of higher value chemicals was recently presented by Hutchings et al. [200]. In this area as well, particle size effects can be identified yet care must be taken, as illustrated by a recent paper by Simakova et al. [201], which showed a bimodal Au particle size effect in the catalytic activity of Au-TiOj system in the gas-phase oxidation of ethanol. 

Propylene oxide is one of the top 50 chemicals. More than 4 million t/a are produced worldwide. It is reacted via polyetherpolyols to form polyurethanes and via propylene glycol to form polyesters 15). Obviously, the polyol and diol functionalities are used to form with diisocyanates derived from diamino compounds polyurethanes and with diacids polyesters, respectively. These functionalities are available from renewable feedstocks carbohydrates, oils and fats, proteins and lignins. 

Without any doubt, alternatives to propylene oxide and also to other oxidized base chemicals should be possible to be developed based on renewable feedstocks. We want to focus on the examples of a possible contribution of synthetic organic chemistry to a sustainable development given on vegetable... 

Consideration of renewable feedstocks as petrochemical substitutes also leads one immediately to the problem of manipulating oxidation levels, but in a different sense. Carbohydrates are die most common primary class of compounds available from renewable biomass (S), yet these compounds are... 

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