Résumé
Graphical Abstract Abstract Chemistry in general, but polymer chemistry in particular has to face the major challenge of finding solutions to ensure a sustainable and environmental-benign development of industry to answer consumer needs. Aromatics are very important chemical groups for polymer science for the synthesis of lots of thermostable or thermosetting polymers. However, most petrobased aromatic monomers (such as phenol) are toxic. Finding less toxic and sustainable aromatics is not easy because natural phenols have various functionalities in nature. In consequence aromatic-containing building blocks must be synthesized. The present review gives an overview of the different synthetic methods to prepare such aromatic building blocks by various coupling methods. It then focusses on the synthesis of CC bonds, on reductive coupling of natural aldehydes, on the carbonyl-aromatic coupling and on other various routes to prepare monomers. Indeed, owing to the rich reactivity and properties of aromatics, such functional monomers will undoubtedly lead to the development of high-added value polymers. This review also gives a brief overview of such potential applications.