Biobased Polyamides: Monomer Sources, Preparation, Functional Modifications, and Applications

With the continued consumption of non-renewable petroleum resources and the ever-seriously climate change problems, reducing the use of fossil resources and diminishing carbon emissions have become significant development directions for establishing a carbon-neutral chemical industry. Biobased polyamides (BPAs) have emerged as crucial bio-renewable polymer materials with great potentials owing to their extensive monomer sources, multiple varieties, excellent physical-mechanical properties, good thermal stability, easy processability, etc. Besides, diverse synthetic methods and functionalized modification strategies have further broadened the working scenarios of BPAs, demonstrating outstanding application possibilities not only in traditional industrial fields, but also in some emerging fields. Over the last few decades, increasing numbers of BPAs are successfully developed, and striking advancements are achieved in this research field. Unfortunately, there is not yet a review to systematically summarize the progress. The present paper summarizes the major advancements dealing with BPAs during the past few decades, in which monomer sources, preparation, functional modifications, and applications are introduced in detail. Moreover, the challenges and opportunities of future development concerning BPAs are also presented. This review may motivate more interest in BPAs, further facilitating their more comprehensive research and large-scale applications.