Polyurethanes (PU) are ranked amongst the 6 most manufactured worldwide polymers and are widely used in a variety of applications due to the diversity of properties they offer. Nevertheless, PUs are raising questions around environmental, legislative, health, and recycling concerns. In this context, due to the high isocyanate toxicity, blocked isocyanates, waterborne PU systems, and non-isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) were introduced to prevent isocyanate handling risks. Moreover, sustainable feedstocks stood out to synthetize greener PU. In particular, bio-based polyfunctional short alcohol and isocyanate compounds have emerged to design fully bio-based PU materials with targeted chemical and mechanical properties. Finally, the large amounts of PU that have been placed on the market are now leading to environmental issues regarding its accumulation in the environment. Several methods have thus been recently developed to facilitate their end-of-life management and recyclability.

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可持续聚氨酯：迈向新的前沿机遇

聚氨酯 (PU) 被列为全球生产量最大的 6 种聚合物之一，由于其性能的多样性而被广泛用于各种应用。尽管如此，PU 仍提出了有关环境、立法、健康和回收问题的问题。在此背景下，由于异氰酸酯的高毒性，封端异氰酸酯、水性聚氨酯体系和非异氰酸酯聚氨酯（NIPU）被引入以防止异氰酸酯处理风险。此外，可持续原料在合成更环保的聚氨酯方面脱颖而出。特别是，生物基多官能短醇和异氰酸酯化合物的出现，可以设计具有目标化学和机械性能的全生物基聚氨酯材料。最后，市场上大量的聚氨酯正在导致其在环境中积累的环境问题。因此，最近开发了几种方法来促进其报废管理和可回收性。