Synthetic Polymers from Readily Available Monosaccharides

The low degradability of petroleum-based polymers and the massive use of these materials constitute a serious problem because of the environmental pollution that they can cause. Thus, sustained efforts have been extensively devoted to produce new polymers based on natural renewing resources and with higher degradability. Of the different natural sources, carbohydrates stand out as highly convenient raw materials because they are inexpensive, readily available, and provide great stereochemical diversity. New polymers, analogous to the more accredited technical polymers, but based on chiral monomers, have been synthesized from natural and available sugars. This chapter describes the potential of sugar-based monomers as precursors to a wide variety of macromolecular materials.