Sustainable, Recyclable, and Bench-Stable Catalytic System for Synthesis of Poly(ester-b-carbonate)

Abstract

Transferring abundant, inexpensive, and nontoxic carbon dioxide (CO₂) into biodegradable polymers is one of the ideal ways to promote sustainable development. Although a great deal of preeminent researches has been reported in the last decade, including well-designed organometallic complexes, Lewis pairs, etc. The moisture- and air-sensitive nature of these extensively used catalysts preclude their use in industrial applications. Herein, we report a novel stable catalyst system of commercial zinc glutarate (ZnGA) with a supported metal for the synthesis of poly(ester-b-carbonate). The special supported microstructure facilitates efficient polymerizations via a plausible heterometal coordination mechanism. Notably, the resulted biodegradable CO₂-based copolymer showed strong tensile strength (>40 MPa), improved elongation (45% versus 7%), excellent transmittance, and low water vapor permeability (WVP) (1.7 × 10^–11 g m^–1 s^–1 Pa^–1). Moreover, the supported ZnGA catalyst is recyclable, and its simple and low-cost preparation process is compatible with the manufacturing and processing methods of the existing infrastructure.