title: Sustainable Chiral Polyamides with High Melting Temperature via Enhanced Anionic Polymerization of a Menthone-Derived Lactam.
abstract: Polyamides are very important polymers that find applications from commodities up to the automotive and biomedical sectors, and their impact is continuously growing. The synthesis of structurally significant, chiral, and sustainable polyamides is described via a new, convenient, and solvent-free anionic polymerization of a biobased ε-lactam, which is obtained from the renewable terpenoid ketone l-menthone in a one-step synthesis. These polyamides are shown to have outstanding structural and thermal properties, which are thus introduced via the structure and chirality of the natural lactam monomer and which are discussed and compared with those of petroleum-based, established, and commercial polyamide Nylon-6. X-ray data reveal a remarkable degree of crystallinity in these green polymers and emphasize the impact of their structural features on the resulting properties.
authors.affiliation: WACKER-Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85747, Garching bei München.
authors.forename: Malte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winnacker
authors.affiliation: WACKER-Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85747, Garching bei München.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neumeier
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Soft Matter Physics Group, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85747, Garching bei München.
authors.forename: Xiaohan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Soft Matter Physics Group, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85747, Garching bei München.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Papadakis
authors.affiliation: WACKER-Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85747, Garching bei München.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rieger
mesh_terms: D000838:Anions / Q000737:chemistry; D007769:Lactams / Q000737:chemistry*; D008610:Menthol / Q000737:chemistry; D009757:Nylons / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D058105:Polymerization; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D007769:Lactams; D009757:Nylons; D008610:Menthol; C019466:menthone
keywords: X-ray diffraction; chirality; polyamides; sustainable polymers; terpenes