Bio-Acrylates Production: Recent Catalytic Advances and Perspectives of the Use of Lactic Acid and Their Derivates

The production of drop-in chemicals from bio-based renewable sources is gaining a lot of momentum due to proven negative impact of fossil-based economy on environment and society. In this Review, various bio-derived platform molecules are assessed as renewable alternatives to fossil resources for the catalytic production of acrylates. Acrylic acid and its esters are key building blocks of a large number of high-value oligomers and polymers in the current industry. In spite of the encouraging successes reported on gram or lab-scale, real implementation of bio-based examples remain scarce mainly due to the current high cost and limited availability of the bio-based substrates. As lactic acid and their derivatives are one of the most promising feedstocks for bio-acrylate production, they are the main focus of this Review.