Recirculation: A New Concept to Drive Innovation in Sustainable Product Design for Bio-Based Products.

Bio-based products are made from renewable materials, offering a promising basis for the production of sustainable chemicals, materials, and more complex articles. However, biomass is not a limitless resource or one without environmental and social impacts. Therefore, while it is important to use biomass and grow a bio-based economy, displacing the unsustainable petroleum basis of energy and chemical production, any resource must be used effectively to reduce waste. Standards have been developed to support the bio-based product market in order to achieve this aim. However, the design of bio-based products has not received the same level of attention. Reported here are the first steps towards the development of a framework of understanding which connects product design to resource efficiency. Research and development scientists and engineers are encouraged to think beyond simple functionality and associate value to the potential of materials in their primary use and beyond.

Effect of chain unsaturation on the self-association of tri- and tetraethylene glycol octyl ethers obtained by butadiene telomerization.

2,7-Octadienyl ethers of tri- and tetraethylene glycol (C(8:2)E(3) and C(8:2)E(4)) have been synthesized by the atom-economical butadiene telomerization of the corresponding poly(ethylene glycols). On one hand, this synthetic path is attractive because it is expeditious and environmentally benign, and on the other hand, it provides unconventional amphiphiles for which the lipophilic chains possess two double bonds. These two unsaturations increase the global hydrophilicity of the compound, which is also highlighted by the modelization of the compounds using the conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS). The behavior of C(8:2)E(3) and C(8:2)E(4) in binary amphiphile/water and ternary amphiphile/oil/water systems is therefore greatly modified compared to that of the conventional fully saturated homologues (C(8)E(3) and C(8)E(4)) that are easily obtained after hydrogenation. This results in a lowered efficiency of the unsaturated compounds for oil solubilization. The usual Winsor-type microemulsion systems are formed, and for the same oil, the DLS investigation of the microstructure of the Winsor I microemulsion does not highlight any difference in the self-association between the unsaturated and saturated compounds.

Dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene) as a bio-based alternative for dipolar aprotic solvents.

Dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene) is a bio-based molecule, derived in two simple steps from cellulose, which demonstrates significant promise as a dipolar aprotic solvent. The dipolarity of dihydrolevoglucosenone is similar to NMP, DMF and sulpholane. Dihydrolevoglucosenone demonstrates similar performance to NMP in a fluorination reaction and the Menschutkin reaction.

Hydrotropic properties of alkyl and aryl glycerol monoethers.

Three pentyl and three aryl 1-O-monoglyceryl ethers prepared via a green catalytic route were investigated as hydrotropic solvents. Their amphiphilicities were quantified by comparing their so-called "fish" diagrams constructed with oils of increasing hydrophobicity (EACN). For the same number of carbon atoms, the presence of a methyl substituent in ß position makes the hydrotrope slightly more hydrophobic, as evidenced by the more hydrophobic optimal oil. Branched isomers are also less efficient since they require higher concentrations to get microemulsions. The presence of an aromatic moiety within the hydrophobic chain increases the solubility of the hydrotrope in water in comparison to the alkyl derivative that has the same number of carbon atoms. It also modifies significantly the associative behavior in oil/water systems: Benzylglycerol monoether is able to form Winsor III systems, just as the pentyl derivatives, but with much more polar oils, whereas phenylglycerol is not. In oil/water systems, all glycerol-derived amphiphiles exhibit a twice-lower temperature-sensitivity compared to their ethyleneglycol counterparts. The pentyl and benzyl 1-O-monoglyceryl ethers can be classified as amphiphilic solvents, or "solvo-surfactants", as regards to their surface-active properties and good solubilizing abilities.