Bio‐Based Polyol Production Through Prilezhaev Reaction of Vegetable Oil—A Brief Review

ABSTRACT This review paper examines the prilezhaev reaction or also known as epoxidation process of vegetable oil, a renewable resource with promising industrial applications. Epoxidation involves reacting castor oil with peroxy acids to create epoxide groups, essential intermediates for further chemical transformations. The paper reviews the activity of various catalysts in this process by specifying vegetable oil into non‐edible and edible groups, noting that homogenous catalysts outperform heterogenous catalysts in the epoxidation process of vegetable oil, which leads to the development of hybrid catalysts to increase efficiency and parallel the green chemistry. Additionally, the article reviews the ring‐opening reactions using different reagents on epoxidized vegetable oils, which yield polyols—key intermediates for synthesizing polyurethanes and other polymers. Transforming vegetable oils into functionalized biobased products through epoxidation and subsequent ring‐opening reactions has broad industrial applications, including in bioplastics, lubricants, and coatings.