The increasing concern about the potential negative health effects of traditional organohalogen flame retardants have placed these compounds under increasing regulatory pressure around the world. There is a growing need to develop new, nontoxic, biocompatible or biodegradable flame retardant agents. Phosphorus compounds derived from renewable biosources offer great potential to meet this need. Isosorbide is a dihydroxy ether available from starch. It may be readily converted to the corresponding bis-acrylate ester. This compound undergoes Michael addition of phosphites to provide a number of phosphorus compounds which display good flame retardancy in DGEBA epoxy.

传统有机卤素阻燃剂对健康的潜在负面影响日益引起人们的关注，这些化合物已在全球范围内面临越来越大的监管压力。越来越需要开发新的，无毒的，生物相容的或可生物降解的阻燃剂。来自可再生生物资源的磷化合物具有巨大的潜力来满足这一需求。异山梨醇是可得自淀粉的二羟基醚。它可以容易地转化为相应的双丙烯酸酯。该化合物经过亚磷酸酯的迈克尔加成反应，提供了许多在DGEBA环氧树脂中显示出良好阻燃性的磷化合物。