Eugenol: A Promising Building Block for Synthesis of Radically Polymerizable Monomers

Eugenol, a natural phenol currently mainly obtained from clove oil, is an interesting aromatic building block for the synthesis of novel biobased monomers. It can also be obtained from lignin depolymerization, becoming a promising building block due to lignin availability as biomass feedstock. The synthesis of eight monomers derived from eugenol containing polymerizable functional groups is achieved. The (meth)acrylation of eugenol, isoeugenol, and dihydroeugenol is performed and the solution homopolymerization of these biobased monomers is studied. Moreover, aiming to prepare functional polymers, the introduction of epoxy and cyclic carbonate groups is executed via modification of the allylic double bond present in eugenol derived methacrylate. Thus, a novel platform of versatile biobased monomers derived from eugenol is presented, opening the opportunity to use them in a wide range of polymerization processes and applications.