Biobased Vanillic Acid and Ricinoleic Acid: Building Blocks for Fully Renewable Copolyesters

New fully biobased polyether/esters have been synthesized by a one-pot polymerization reaction of ricinoleic acid (RA), vanillic acid (VA) and ethylene carbonate (EC). In particular, EC selectively reacts with the phenolic group of VA to obtain in-situ 4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-3-methoxybenzoate (EV), suitable for subsequent copolymerization with RA. The procedure was carried out in a single step, without any solvent. Chemical structure and thermal properties of the new materials were studied in order to explore relationships between composition and final performances. The combination of EV, bearing a rigid aromatic structure, with RA, characterized by high flexibility and potential biocidal activity, allows the production of a novel class of fully biobased aliphatic-aromatic polymers presenting tuneable thermal properties and suitable for a range of applications, for example, in active packaging and biomedical fields.