J&K Scientific exclusively offers two monomers developed by Prof. Yin.

The fossil resources derived 4,4’-biphenyldicarboxylic acid is a significant monomer in polymer industry ^[1]. However, its production route is lengthy and dirty with low selectivity, and the corresponding polymers are also poorly biodegradable. In view of increasing concerns about environmental pollution and the requirements for carbon neutralization, its industrial production and polymer applications would be apparently restrained. therefore, seeking its biobased replacements is clearly promising. [2,2'-Bifuran]-5,5'-dicarboxylic acid (BFDCA) has the similar structure to 4,4’-biphenyldicarboxylic acid, and it is originally from agricultural by-products. Its synthesis is quite easy, can be performed under gentle conditions, and the corresponding polymers are biodegradable, thus avoiding the above-mentioned shortcomings of 4,4’-biphenyldicarboxylic acid, and becoming its ideal replacement.

Compared with those fossil resources derived monomers, the production of BFDCA monomer matches the requirements for carbon neutralization. BFDCA monomer and its derivatives such as diesters can polymerize with aliphatic and aromatic diol/diamine and co-polymerize with other monomers for versatile polymer syntheses. Particularly, BFDCA based polymers may demonstrate liquid crystalline behavior with flexible machinability. For example, the polymer synthesized from BFDCA and ethylene glycol displays the liquid crystalline behavior at a lower temperature than that those from 4,4’-biphenyldicarboxylic acid, thus demonstrating better machinability (Figure 1) ^[2][2].