Abstract

The growing impact of environmental concerns of industrial processes carried out to the development of the socalled “Green Chemistry” approaches. By these technologies, the use of any hazardous substances within the synthesis of chemicals, nutraceuticals or therapeutics, is avoided, and considerable safety and biocompatibility advantages are raised.

Among the different products prepared by Green Chemistry, high molecular weight antioxidants show remarkable appeal within the scientific community by virtue of their advantageous chemical and biological properties. These functional materials have been prepared by different synthetic strategies, classified in condensation methods, radical grafting and enzymatic catalysis. This review summarizes the chemical mechanisms of these strategies, and elucidates some of the most significant applications of the obtained products.

Keywords: Antioxidant polymers, condensation, enzyme catalysis, green chemistry, radical grafting.

Graphical Abstract