Performance polyamides built on a sustainable carbohydrate core

Sustainably producing plastics with performance properties across a variety of materials chemistries is a major challenge—especially considering that most performance materials use aromatic precursors that are still difficult to source sustainably. Here we demonstrate catalyst-free, melt polymerization of dimethyl glyoxylate xylose, a stabilized carbohydrate that can be synthesized from agricultural waste with 97% atom efficiency, into amorphous polyamides with performances comparable to fossil-based semi-aromatic alternatives. Despite the presence of a carbohydrate core, these materials retain their thermomechanical properties through multiple rounds of high-shear mechanical recycling and could be chemically recycled. Techno-economic and life-cycle analyses suggest selling prices close to those of nylon 66 with a reduction of global warming potential of up to 75%. This work illustrates the versatility of a carbohydrate moiety to impart performance that can compete with that of semi-aromatic polymers across two important materials chemistries.

Lorenz P. Manker, Maxime A. Hedou, Clement Broggi, Marie J. Jones, Kristoffer Kortsen, Kalaiyarasi Puvanenthiran, Yildiz Kupper, Holger Frauenrath, François Marechal, Veronique Michaud, Roger Marti, Michael P. Shaver, Jeremy S. Luterbacher