Thermal receipt paper

Manufacturers produce more than 8 billion pounds of BPA every year, making it one of the most common industrial chemicals produced worldwide (Rubin 2011). Plastics made with BPA are used in many consumer products, including food and beverage containers, toys, eyeglasses, computers, kitchen appliances, and medical equipment. Epoxy resins containing the chemical are used in dental work and in metal coatings for food cans, pipes, cars, dairy equipment, office equipment, and other metal products. BPA and its derivatives are also used in flame retardants (tetrabromobisphenol A), in engineering applications such as laminates for printed circuit boards, and as color developers in thermal receipt paper (Birnbaum et al. 2012). Some, but not all, plastics that are marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 may be made with BPA. 

BPA (C15H16O2 CAS No. 80-05-7) is one of the most common industrial chemicals produced worldwide. BPA was first synthesized by the Russian chemist A.P. Dianin in 1891. The compound consists of two conjoined phenol functional groups, and is synthesized by the condensation of acetone (hence the sufBx A in the name) with two equivalents of phenol (Fig. 1.1). BPA is used in polycarbonate plastic to enhance product strength, durability, and transparency. BPA is used in epoxy resins to extend the shelf-life of canned foods as well as in dental composite resins used to fill most cavities (Kingman et al. 2012). BPA also functions as a color developer in carbonless thermal receipt paper. 

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