Acrylic monomers such as acrylic acid and methacrylic acid are synthesized from petroleum-derived raw materials. Therefore, acrylic polymers used as raw materials for acrylic resins are petroleum-based highly functional polymers. Synthetic polymers made from petroleum-derived raw materials, which are carbon sources buried in the ground, are often considered a problem as a cause of global warming because many of them are incinerated after use, releasing carbon dioxide, which is considered a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. On the other hand, many acrylic monomers available from biomass are acrylic compounds with substituents at the β-position, and are known to have low polymerization activity at the carbon-carbon double bond moiety. Therefore, it has been considered difficult to synthesize biomass-based acrylic polymers using biomass-based acrylic monomers as raw materials. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of biomass-based acrylic polymers using biomass-based acrylic monomers as raw materials.
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