Renewable furan-based polymers with improved functional properties for sustainable food packaging

Polymers are a fundamental and irreplaceable class of materials which have transformed our society and our quality of life in the past century. Among the most important applications of polymeric materials there are plastics, mostly utilized in the field of packaging, and produced in large amounts every year, at a rate which is completely incompatible with their short life cycle and low biodegradation rate. Because of their extraordinary and versatile properties, biobased furan-based polyesters such as poly(alkylene furanoate)s have been at the center of attention of Research and Industry for their excellent functional properties in food packaging applications, including tunable mechanical properties, high gas barrier properties and promising biodegradation. Within this context, this Ph.D. Thesis presents the results of the synthesis and characterization of novel and state-of-the-art furan-based polyesters, with the objective to achieve new levels of excellence and sustainability in the field of food packaging applications. By designing the macromolecular architecture of these polymeric systems, via polymerization with the correct glycols or copolymerization with specific comonomers, it was possible to control their microstructure and to influence their behavior, adjusting their properties and improving their performance. In particular, the effect of isomerism and of the copolymerization with amido diols, with PLLA and with camphoric acid was studied, leading to new impactful insights on the structure-property relationship between the theorized formation of a furan-based mesomorph phase and increased functional properties, highlighting the potential of these systems for the production of flexible, monolayer, easily recyclable or compostable sustainable food packaging.