MARIO PAGLIARO
Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, CNR, Palermo, Italy

Called by Greiner’s team “the perfect green platform polymer, from which many functional materials can be derived”, (1) poly(limonene carbonate) (PlimC) is a thermoplastic  polymer exhibiting excellent thermal, mechanical and optical properties whose catalytic synthesis by copolymerization of 1,2 limonene oxide (the trans isomer) and CO₂ mediated by a β-diiminate zinc catalyst was first reported by Coates and co-workers in the US in 2004 (2).

The original synthesis was optimized in Germany in 2016 to afford high-molecular-weight (>100 kDa) PlimC in kilogram amounts with further improved mechanical, thermal (glass transition temperature of 130 °C) and optical (higher transparency than bisphenol-A polycarbonate) properties; (3) followed by the discovery that PlimC has excellent CO₂ gas permeability which, along with good heat insulation, render it a “breathing glass” suitable for new generation windows in energy-efficient buildings (4).

Shortly afterwards, Kleij and co-workers in Spain reported a straightforward sequential route to poly(limonene)dicarbonate (PlimDC), a polymer with an ...