Moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding plastic buildup in the environment are key to meeting the challenge of climate change. Recently, researchers led by Professor Jeremy Luterbach of the School of Basic Sciences at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed a biomass-derived plastic similar to PET (polyethylene terphthalate), which meets the criteria to replace several existing plastics while also being more environmentally friendly. Traditional plastics are so widespread because they combine many advantages such as low cost, thermal stability, mechanical strength, workability and compatibility. Any plastic replacement will have to match or exceed these advantages, and the task has been challenging. "We basically just use cheap chemicals to 'cook' wood or other inedible plant materials, such as agricultural waste, to produce plastic precursors in one step," Lutbach said. By preserving the integrity of the sugar structure in the molecular structure of the plastic, the chemical process is much simpler than current methods of producing plastic alternatives. The technique is based on a discovery Luterbach and colleagues made in 2016: adding an aldehyde stabilizes parts of plant material and avoids destroying them during extraction. By repurposing this chemical, the researchers were able to reconstruct a new useful biobased chemical as a plastic precursor. "By using a different aldehyde -- glyoxylate instead of formaldehyde -- we...