A guide towards safe, functional and renewable BPA alternatives by rational molecular design: structure–property and structure–toxicity relationships

Abstract

Over the last decades extensive research gave unambiguous evidence for the endocrine disrupting nature of bisphenol A (BPA), which is an indispensable precursor in polymer chemistry since 1946. Unfortunately, current...

Recording from an Identified Neuron Efficiently Reveals Hazard for Brain Function in Risk Assessment

“…It affects hormonal balance and reproductive potential and alters neuronal development and metabolic processes in humans, other mammals, birds, and in so-called lower vertebrates [37,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Due to its hazardous properties, the scope of application of BPA has been limited in the EU to reduce exposure situations [25] and calls are being made for safer alternatives [54,55]. Although bisphenols also leach into the environment, humans appear to be exposed to bisphenols primarily through food packaging and contaminated food (Figure 2a) [24,38,42,56,57].…”

Fully Eugenol‐Based Epoxy Thermosets: Synthesis, Curing, and Properties

“…[11] Increasing environmental concerns, strict safety regulations, and scarcity of nonrenewable petroleum-based resources have driven researchers in academia and manufacturing to develop sustainable epoxy thermosetting materials. [12][13][14][15][16][17] Numerous biobased building blocks have been applied to develop bioderived epoxy polymers. Vegetable oils (such as soybean oil and castor oil) with nonconjugated double bonds have been employed to develop epoxy monomers or oligomeric epoxidized vegetable oils through the epoxidation of their carbon-carbon double bonds.…”

The Future Biorefinery: The Impact of Upscaling the Reductive Catalytic Fractionation of Lignocellulose Biomass on the Quality of the Lignin Oil, Carbohydrate Products, and Pulp

“…As shown in the open literature, without the use of a catalyst, the repolymerization will be much more prevalent, due to the inability to stabilize the lignin intermediates (Figure S12). , With RCF about 50 to 90% of the biomass lignin, depending on the feedstock and the reaction conditions, is typically removed ultimately yielding a lignin oil with unique properties such as low molecular weight (MW) (<1000 Da) with a narrow polydispersity (<1.4) and high hydroxyl selectivity, making it an interesting precursor for multiple applications. − Although lignin valorization is a key aspect to achieve full biomass utilization, the majority of the lignocellulose biomass is composed of a carbohydrate-rich fraction, remaining as a pulp after RCF, that has received increased attention in the past decades as a resource for the production of biobased chemicals. − To exploit this fraction, a complex mixture of cellulases and hemicellulases are required to obtain the C5 and C6 monomeric sugars that are present within the lignocellulose biomass and can be upgraded biochemically to, e.g., bioethanol using yeast, which has been specifically demonstrated with RCF pulp as well. ,− …”