In this series of articles, the board members of ChemSusChem discussrecent research articles that they consider of exceptional quality and importance for sustainability.T his entry features Dr.P ieter Bruijnincx, who discusses bio-based approaches to new and existing chemicals for large-scale polymera pplications, highlighting that the development of methodologies to obtain key monomers from biomass leads to new chemistry, aids the transition to am ore sustainable chemical industry, and fostersnew interdisciplinary approaches. New and Drop-in Bio-based ChemicalsNature offers many opportunities for the production of renewable platform molecules (i.e.,b uildingb locks for am ore sustainable chemical industry). Of particulari nterest, in terms of impact,a re those biomass-derivedp latformm olecules that can be used as monomersf or large-scale polymer applications. [1] Indeed, world plastics consumption showsaconsistenta nnual growth, reaching 311Mti n2 014. These polymers are unfortunately stilll argely made from fossil resources. Bio-based polymers do find their way into the market and show faster annual growth rates than the fossil-derived ones, yet stillcontribute to less than 5% of the total production volume. Much research and development efforts are currently being devoted, both in industry and in academia, to develop conversion technology and polymer materials to increasethis share. An obviousincentive of using high-value, renewable monomers for large-scale polymer applications lies in the concomitant reduction of the carbon footprint of the chemical and polymer industry.T he use of renewable resources, such as biomass,also offers another,d istinct opportunity:c hemical diversity.T he high functionalgroup density and overall oxidation state of many of the main components of biomass offer versatility in terms of reactivity and access to chemical structures and compounds that can be much less easily and efficientlym ade from conventionalf ossil resources. The building blocks that can be obtainedf rom biomass can then be classifieda se ither drop-in (i.e.,m olecularly identicalt oc urrent petrochemical-derived monomers) or new monomers. The former hold the advantage of access to existing markets and applications, but need to be ablet oc ompete on price (there being no real premium on 'green'). The latter offer ac ompetitive advantage that is based on performance, rather than on price, but require applicationsa nd markets to be developed.

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CO 2 electroreduction to formate powered by renewable energy is an attractive strategy to recycle air-based carbon. At the moment, the electrode materials showing high selectivity for formate at high current density are post transition metals such as In, Sn, Bi, and Pb. Scaling up the CO 2 electroreduction technology to industrial size requires, among other things, cheap and clean methods to produce cathode materials in the form of particles to fabricate the square meters of the electrode surface area needed for the industrial electrolyzers. We show here that it is possible to easily produce catalytic powders based on Sn and Pb via a process known as cathodic disintegration, driving the reaction with electric power and avoiding the use of organic solvents, stabilizers, and reducing agents. The catalysts produced with this method are highly selective for the reduction of CO 2 to formate and show promise for use in industrial electrolyzers. Moreover, the process of cathodic disintegration is quick and clean, it has a high atom efficiency, it uses dilute aqueous electrolytes as solvents, and it has the possibility to be driven by renewable energy.