Researchers have developed an innovative method for using wood or other types of biomass for the preparation of chemical substances, this without relying on normal starting materials from oil which are not renewable materials.
[Translation by Dr. Nachmani Moshe]
Researchers from the University of Alabama, in collaboration with their colleagues from Germany, have developed an innovative method to use wood or other types of biomass for the preparation of chemical substances, without relying on conventional petrochemical starting materials that are not renewable materials.
The idea, the researchers explain, is to produce everyday products from renewable sources, while they are still economically and commercially competitive, and without harming the environment. To this end, the researchers, led by chemistry professor Anthony J. Arduengo, demonstrated that it is possible to produce ordinary petroleum-based products in such a way that all the carbon atoms included in them can be synthesized from wood-based starting materials only. "The result of our research is an important step forward both technologically and economically," claims one of the researchers. "Imagine the processes of chemical synthesis as building important materials for use in our modern lives from Lego-like building blocks."
Traditional petrochemistry is a limited method in terms of the variety and structures of the building blocks used in it, explains the researcher. In this framework, a considerable amount of energy and effort must be invested in order to reshape the basic petrochemical building blocks into the many units required to construct more complex objects and objects. "Wood, a renewable resource that is highly available, provides the opportunity to directly create a wide variety of building blocks with diverse chemical compositions and structures that can be used to build advanced materials."
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