(157f) Lignin-Based Functional Polymers

Lignin is an important source of synthetic materials because of its abundance in nature, low cost, stable supply, and no competition to the human food supply. The crosslinked phenolic polymer, lignin, contains a large number of aromatic groups that can be used as a substitute for petroleum-based aromatic fine chemicals. However, modification of lignin is necessary for its application in advanced materials due to its chemically inert nature and structural complexity. Polymeric modification of lignin via graft copolymerization represents an important avenue for modification because this method forms stable covalent bond linkages between lignin and synthetic functional polymers. Through the lignin graft copolymerization, lignin was integrated with synthetic polymers to obtain certain smart functions. In this presentation, we summarized our recent founding in thiol-ene lignin modification, and a lignin-based shape-memory polymer, synthesize and special properties.