Abstract
MAY I add to the recent note1 on the isolation of a natural elastic polyester2? The natural occurrence of polyesters was observed as early as 1908 by Bougault and Bourdier3, who showed that the waxes obtained by extraction of the leaves of a variety of conifers are linear polyesters of hydroxy-acids such as juniperic acid (ω-hydroxypalmitic acid) and sabinic acid (ω-hydroxylauric acid). These polyesters, or 'etholides', have average molecular weights of the order 1,000–2,000, and were afterwards shown to have the same general properties as the synthetic polyesters obtained by heating ω-hydroxy-monocarboxylic acids4. The average molecular weights of the natural esters show that they belong to the α-polyester type rather than the ω- or linear super-polyester type synthesized by Carothers and Hill5; Bougault appreciated the analogy between the etholides on one hand and polysaccharides and polypeptides on the other.
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SPRING, F. Naturally Occurring Polyesters. Nature 155, 272 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155272b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155272b0
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