Forest biomass is
viewed as a significant source of organic carbon
and thus the ideal replacement of petroleum products. From the resources
derived from biomass, lignocellulose is the most abundant biobased
material on earth. One of the aromatic added value compounds obtained
from the depolymerization of lignin is vanillin. Here, we report the
preparation of new compounds having benzothiophene, indole, isatin,
benzofuroxan, benzofurazan, benzothiadiazole, and phthalimide heteroaromatic
ring structures. More precisely, our results show that vanillin can
be used as a biosourced starting material for the preparation of a
variety of aromatic dibrominated monomers. X-ray crystallography on
single crystals was also performed to obtain meaningful information
on their solid-state ordering. This work opens the way to new, sustainable,
biosourced aromatic materials (small molecules or polymers) for organic
electronics.