A rapid (5 min), solventless and heterogeneously catalysed methodology is demonstrated for the first time for the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyls to biomass derived unsaturated polyesters.

Poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a ubiquitous thermoplastic currently produced from nonrenewable fossil resources; as such, sustainable biobased routes to the key terephthalate monomer are being widely pursued. Herein is demonstrated a greener solventless route to biobased diethyl terephthalate via a one-pot heterogeneous Lewis acid catalyzed Diels–Alder addition and dehydration of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid diethyl ester with ethylene, giving yields of terephthalate up to 59% for the key Diels–Alder addition step. A metrics-based comparison against alternative published biobased routes (available from sugars, cellulose and hemicellulose) shows that the clean synthetic pathway developed herein gives a practical atom economy, overall yield and selectivity, making it a viable alternative to routes currently under development.

There is ever increasing demand to develop surfactants based on sophorolipids because they are produced by non-pathogenic organisms, biodegradable and less toxic to humans and the environment. Herein, commercially available...