A comprehensive review of the publications about rosin-based chemicals has been compiled. Rosin, or colophony, is a natural, abundant, cheap and non-toxic raw material which can be easily modified to obtain numerous useful products, which makes it an excellent subject of innovative research, attracting growing interest in recent years. The last extensive review in this research area was published in 2008, so the current article contains the most promising, repeatable achievements in synthesis of rosin-derived chemicals, published in scientific literature from 2008 to 2018. The first part of the review includes low/medium molecule weight compounds: Especially intermediates, resins, monomers, curing agents, surfactants, medications and biocides. The second part is about macromolecules: mainly elastomers, polymers for biomedical applications, coatings, adhesives, surfactants, sorbents, organosilicons and polysaccharides. In conclusion, a critical evaluation of the publications in terms of data completeness has been carried out with an indication of the most promising directions of rosin-based chemicals development.
Keywords: biocide; curing agent; medicine; polymer; resin; rosin; surfactant.