Green Synthesis of Polymers under Solvent-Free Conditions

In the past 100 years, polymeric materials bring a huge convenience to our life while inevitably cause environmental issues in the processes of both production and disposal. Although the current “white pollution” of waste plastics arises chemists’ great interest for developing the degradable and recyclable polymers, environmentally benign procedures and sustainable processing are equally important for the chemical manufacturing of synthetic polymers yet rarely concerned. In this chapter, a comprehensive overview of the green synthesis of polymers under solvent-free conditions is presented. Recent advances in the solvent-free polymerization, mechanochemical polymerization, topochemical polymerization for preparing functional organic polymers are briefly introduced. The present chapter highlights the novel methodologies for solvent-free, solid-state polymerizations and gain insight into sustainable green chemistry in polymer science and technology.