Synthesis of Terpene-Based Polymers

Terpenes or terpenoids are a large class of diverse biological compounds derived from isoprene. Due to their abundance in nature and desirable properties, there has been great interest in producing polymers with terpenes as either functional entities or as the main constituent. Terpene-based polymers have found applications as biomedical or liquid crystalline materials and, more importantly, have greatly contributed to the concept of sustainable polymer chemistry. The design and preparation of terpene-based polymers have involved different chemical strategies and a wide variety of polymerization techniques, making use of the chemical functionalities in terpene molecules, e.g. (conjugated) double bonds, hydroxyl and carboxyl groups. This review describes the synthetic methodologies for terpene-based polymers, classified by the position of terpene entities in the polymer chains, i.e., main chain, terminal or central group, and pendant group.