Sustainable terpene-based polyamides via anionic polymerization of a pinene-derived lactam.

A sustainable lactam, which is derived from the renewable terpene β-pinene, is converted to polyamides via a convenient anionic ring-opening polymerization (ROP), which can be easily handled without the use of a costly catalyst. The resulting polyamides have prosperous thermal properties, which enable their future use as high-performance polymers.