{"id":178831,"date":"2026-07-23T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=178831"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:00:55","slug":"new-biobased-polymers-exhibiting-excellent-tensile-properties-beyond-polyolefins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/new-biobased-polymers-exhibiting-excellent-tensile-properties-beyond-polyolefins\/","title":{"rendered":"New biobased polymers exhibiting excellent tensile properties beyond polyolefins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"587\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-1_white.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-178850\" style=\"width:430px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-1_white.jpg 700w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-1_white-300x252.jpg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-1_white-150x126.jpg 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-1_white-322x270.jpg 322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Figure 1.\u00a0Mechanical properties (tensile strength and strain, elongation at break) of the developed polymers and conventional polymers. \u00a9 Tokyo Metropolitan University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>The research group of Professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research groups of Senior Researcher Hiroshi Hirano and Director Seiji Higashi, Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Hiroki Takeshita, The University of Shiga Prefecture, has developed biobased poly(ester amide)s from inedible bio-renewables, which can be easily chemical recyclable and exhibit better mechanical (tensile) properties in film than commodity plastics.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The development of biobased polymers, readily chemical recyclable and derived from non-edible renewable resources, has been recognized as promising sustainable materials in circular economy.\u00a0However, there have been few examples of development of materials exhibiting mechanical properties (e.g. tensile strength and elongation at break) beyond conventional polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the JST Strategic Creative Research Promotion Project (hereafter, CREST), the research group led by Professor Kotohiro Nomura has developed biobased poly(ester amide)s \u2012 consisting of plant oils, amino acids and sugars \u2012 chemically recyclable, exhibiting excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength and strain at break in films) compared to the conventional polymers (Figure 1).\u00a0The poly(ester amide) containing phenylalanine also display unique fast self-healing properties at ambient temperature.\u00a0 These materials are derived from non-edible vegetable oils, amino acids, and sugars (Figure 2), and are prepared by a catalytic\u00a0olefin metathesis polymerization method*, affording high molecular weight polymers.\u00a0 Moreover, these polymers are converted to starting organic compounds (monomers) by catalytic reactions with alcohol called transesterification (depolymerization, quantitative bond formation and dissociation).\u00a0These efforts should play an essential role to accelerate development of sustainable polymers for circular economy.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-2_white.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-178851\" style=\"width:421px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-2_white.jpg 625w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-2_white-268x300.jpg 268w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-2_white-134x150.jpg 134w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/07\/Low-Res_Figure-2_white-241x270.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Figure 2. (Top) basic structure of biobased poly(ester amide) developed in this study, consisting of long-chain fatty acids (derived from vegetable oils), amino acids, and succinic acid (derived from sugar). (Bottom) Prepared biobased poly(ester amide) f \u00a9 Tokyo Metropolitan University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>* Olefin metathesis polymerization method<\/strong>: &#8220;olefin&#8221; is a general term for hydrocarbons with one carbon-carbon double bond. The word \u201cmetathesis\u201d means \u201csubstitution\u201d. Therefore, the recombination reaction of substituents on the double bond of an olefin is called the olefin metathesis reaction. The polymer synthesis method using such reaction in the presence of catalyst is called the olefin metathesis polymerization method. The present method is a polycondensation synthesizing polymer through producing ethylene as by-product (acyclic diene metathesis polymerization).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research was conducted under the JST CREST program, Research Area \u201cPrecise Material Science for Degradation and Stability,\u201d Research Theme \u201cDevelopment of Bio-Based Advanced Polymers and their Depolymerization, Chemical Recycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:11px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>JACS Au; &#8216;Synthesis of Biobased Aliphatic Poly(ester amide)s and their Thermal, Tensile Properties, and Selective Depolymerization through Transesterification&#8217;; DOI: <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1021\/jacsau.6c00515\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10.1021\/jacsau.6c00515\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The research group of Professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research groups of Senior Researcher Hiroshi Hirano and Director Seiji Higashi, Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Hiroki Takeshita, The University of Shiga Prefecture, has developed biobased poly(ester amide)s from inedible bio-renewables, which can be easily [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":178850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"New sustainable polymeric materials derived from plant oil, amino acids, and sugars, chemically recyclable","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[15301,6026,23601,26353,13481,12679],"supplier":[11228,20459,28195],"class_list":["post-178831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biopolyester","tag-biopolymers","tag-ciculareconomy","tag-nylon66","tag-polyamide","tag-recyclability","supplier-osaka-bio-headquarters","supplier-tokyo-metropolitan-university","supplier-university-of-shiga-prefecture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178831"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178865,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178831\/revisions\/178865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178831"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=178831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}