In the resin, bisphenol A, a petrochemically produced molecule, is substituted by lignin-derived vanillin. The synthesis proceeds in high yield (~ 93.3%) from vanillin and a phosphorous organic compound via diamine coupling to a bisphenol, followed by epichlorohydrin reaction to the epoxide. After curing, the epoxy resin shows a high Tg (~ 214 ° C), a tensile strength (~ 80 MPa) and a modulus (~ 2709 MPa), much higher than the values for bisphenol A epoxy resin.

CAS news release, March 21, 2017