Dear Colleagues,

The transition to a bioeconomy, that is, the paradigm shift from fossil-based products and materials to biobased ones, is more and more needed. Not only are environmentally friendly and circular approaches are encouraged by the economic strategies of several countries but the demand for biobased products from the consumers is also increasing. Thus, the advantages offered by products and materials obtained from renewables for both the environment and public health are evident.

Catalysis has a highly relevant role in this scenario to ensure clean processes and the efficiency of resources and catalysis may be considered as an enabling technology for this transition. However, it is necessary to adapt catalytic processes to new feedstocks.

Catalysis is a core technology of the current fossil-based economy dealing with the transformation of hydrocarbons and their functionalization. On the contrary, raw materials for the new economy will be lignocellulose, lignin, starch and sugars, and vegetable oils, all of which are highly oxygenated substrates. Therefore, the development of new processes is quite challenging.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts dealing with the catalytic transformation of sugars, vegetable oils, and platform molecules derived from cellulose or lignin to obtain new bio-based products for the industry, and the following topics in particular:

• Surfactants;
• Lubricants;
• Fuel additives and fuel extenders;
• Monomers for the bioplastic industry;
• New polymers.

Chemocatalysts operating under both heterogeneous and homogeneous conditions will be considered.

Dr. Nicoletta Ravasio
Dr. Federica Zaccheria
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Biobased monomers
• oleochemicals
• surfactants
• fuel additives
• biopolymers
• bioadhesives