It is also used as a base material or solvent in paints, household and industrial chemicals and also in many other applications. But now crops like corn are soybeans have been found to have the potential to provide the starting materials for the production of plastics. In fact scientists already have produced plastics, using crop derivatives and are in the process of developing new plastics with unique properties. Recently, scientists have cloned a gene from the common laboratory plant, Arabadopsis, which is capable of producing plastics from plants, without causing any damage to the plants health. Scientists prefer to make plastics from plants because plants offer an amazing array of compounds, which can be used as monomers in plastics.
Researchers find that plants are more versatile than petroleum.
The number of polymers that can be obtained from petroleum is limited whereas plants are themselves chemical factories that can produce a wide range of chemicals useful for making plastics. Plants can be exploited to the maximum using genomics. The genes obtained can be inserted into crops, using biotechnology as a result of which new plastics with unique properties can be developed. Plants can prepare and store large amounts of compounds and protect it from insects, disease and ultraviolet radiations in sunlight. It does so by combining these molecules with the other molecules to produce a stable and soluble form of compounds.