The demand for petroleum dependent chemicals and materials has been increasing despite the dwindling of their fossil resources. As the dead-end of petroleum based industry has started to appear, today's modern society has to implement alternative energy and valuable chemical resources immediately. Owing to the importance of lignocellulosic biomass for being the most abundant and bio-renewable biomass on earth, this critical review provides insights into the potential of lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative platform to fossil resources. In this context, over 200 value-added compounds, which can be derived from lignocellulosic biomass by using various treatment methods, are presented with their references. Lignocellulosic biomass based polymers and their commercial importance are also reported mainly in the frame of these compounds. The review article aims to draw the map of lignocellulosic biomass derived chemicals and their synthetic polymers, and to reveal the scope of this map in today's modern chemical and polymer industry.

The overwhelming success of click chemistry encouraged researchers to develop alternative "spring-loaded" chemical reactions for use in different fields of chemistry. Initially, the copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition was the only click reaction. In recent years, metal-free [3+2] cycloaddition reactions, Diels-Alder reactions, and thiol-alkene radical addition reactions have come to the fore as click reactions because of their simple synthetic procedures and high yields. Furthermore, these metal-free reactions have wide applicability and are physiologically compatible. These and other alternative click reactions expand the opportunities for synthesizing small organic compounds as well as tailor-made macromolecules and bioconjugates. This Minireview discusses the success and applicability of new, in particular metal-free, click reactions.

Smart materials with the ability to repair themselves have been the focus of different fields of science and engineering. This mini-review provides an insight into the rapidly expanding area of research into smart materials with self-healing properties and discusses both chemical (reversible and polymeric) and also non-chemical (irreversible and microvascular) systems, with emphasis focused on the recent reports in the field.