Sustainable route to methyl-9-hydroxononanoate (polymer precursor) by oxidative cleavage of fatty acid methyl ester from rapeseed oil

Fatty acid methyl esters from rapeseed oil can be converted to monomers for polymer industries (85% methyl-9-hydroxynonanoate) by an oxydoreductive cleavage step in solvent free medium at room temperature, followed by a reduction step. All by-products are valuable and the reactions are performed under mild conditions.