Plastics are indispensable in modern society, but are non-sustainable resources, releasing hazardous chemicals during their service life, and post-disposal issues make traditional plastics a risk. Herein, we report a “digestible”, rigid-and-flexible, bio-sourced building block for high-performance degradable plastics. This building block was synthesized from the bioresources vanillin (lignin derivative) and glycerol through solvent-free acetalization with a high conversion rate and high selectivity. It could be extremely rapidly degraded into non-toxic vanillin and glycerol under mild acidic conditions even at a similar pH and temperature to gastric juice in the human stomach (“digested”), resulting in the outstanding chemical degradability of its corresponding epoxy thermosets, which is beneficial for their recycling. By virtue of the benzene ring, heterocycle, and methoxyl group-related hydrogen bond, the degradable thermosetting plastic showed much higher mechanical properties (stronger and tougher) and comparable thermal properties relative to a commercial high-performance counterpart based on bisphenol A (BPA). This favorable performance combination has never been reported for plastics. Thus, this bio-derived building block exhibits great potential as a sustainable and upgraded alternative to petroleum-sourced aromatic chemicals such as BPA for high-performance plastics.

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易于合成“易消化”，刚性和柔性的生物基建筑材料，用于高性能可降解热固性塑料

塑料在现代社会中是必不可少的，但它是不可持续的资源，会在其使用寿命内释放有害化学物质，并且处置后的问题使传统塑料成为一种风险。在此，我们报告了一种高性能，可降解塑料的“易消化”，刚性和柔性的生物来源构建基块。该结构单元由生物资源香草醛（木质素衍生物）和甘油通过无溶剂的缩醛化反应以高转化率和高选择性合成而成。即使在与人胃中的胃液相似的pH和温度下（“已消化”），在中等酸性条件下，它也可能极快地降解为无毒的香兰素和甘油（导致“消化”），从而使其相应的环氧热固性塑料具有出色的化学降解性，有利于回收。凭借苯环，杂环和与甲氧基相关的氢键，可降解的热固性塑料与基于双酚A（BPA）的商业高性能同类产品相比，具有更高的机械性能（更强壮）和相当的热性能。 。从未报道过这种有利性能组合的塑料。因此，这种生物衍生的构件具有巨大的潜力，可以作为可持续发展和升级的替代石油来源的芳香族化学品（例如用于高性能塑料的BPA）的替代品。从未报道过这种有利性能组合的塑料。因此，这种生物衍生的构件具有巨大的潜力，可以作为可持续发展和升级的替代石油来源的芳香族化学品（例如用于高性能塑料的BPA）的替代品。从未报道过这种有利性能组合的塑料。因此，这种生物衍生的构件具有巨大的潜力，可以作为可持续发展和升级的替代石油来源的芳香族化学品（例如用于高性能塑料的BPA）的替代品。