Recently, from both environmental and economic points of view, green polymers (or biobased polymers), which can be produced partially or entirely from renewable and sustainable natural resources, is of growing interest compared to conventional petroleum-based monomers and polymers. In this regard, lignocellulose biomass represents promising renewable source for production of renewable fuels, chemicals, organic solvent, and polymers.

Here, we present a new rout to convert bio-derived unsaturated dicarboxylic acid via electrochemical hydrogenation into bioadvantaged monomer (trans-3 hexenedioic acid) that has a potential for synthesizing a new family of unsaturated polyamides (bioadvantaged Nylon 6,6). A bioadvantaged nylon 6,6 was prepared via polycondensation reaction between trans-3 hexenedioic acid (t3-HDA), adipic acid (AA) and hexamethylendiamine (HMDA).

The produced bioadvantaged nylons were characterized by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). The results of thermal properties indicate that the addition of t3-HDA doesn’t change the thermal stability of bioadvantaged nylon, however, incorporation of t3-HDA can change the crystalline structure of Nylon 6,6 from semi-crystalline to amorphous.