ABSTRACT
The latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st have been marked by the increasing drive from both the chemical industry and government agencies to move away from petroleum-based nonrenewable feedstocks for production of commodity and specialty chemicals to the application of renewable resources such as carbohydrates, oils, and fats. The use of renewable resources for production of industrial chemicals are often referred to as “green chemistry” or “green processes.”1,2 Additional attractive features of chemistry based on using renewable resources include development of environmentfriendly processes that will not require organic solvents, consuming a lot of energy, generating undesirable byproducts and/or waste.1
