Nan Wang, Qiao Zhang, Zhiqiang Sun, Han Zhang, Chenyang Hu, Hai Sun, Xuan Pang, Xuesi Chen
{"title":"Recycling Polyester and Polycarbonate Plastics with Carbocation Lewis Acidic Organocatalysts","authors":"Nan Wang, Qiao Zhang, Zhiqiang Sun, Han Zhang, Chenyang Hu, Hai Sun, Xuan Pang, Xuesi Chen","doi":"10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00054","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The effective management of plastic waste is critical for environmental sustainability. This work explores the use of carbocation catalysts for the recycling of common polyesters and polycarbonates through alcoholysis. We demonstrate complete depolymerization of end-of-life materials and investigate the relationship between the catalytic reactivity and the structural features of the carbocation compounds, including the cations and their counteranions. Carbocations function as Lewis acids, facilitating the interaction with carbonyls in polymer chains. Moreover, our approach enables the hierarchical degradation of the polyester blends. This research not only elucidates the catalytic role of carbocations in the alcoholysis of these polymers, but also establishes a metal-free process for the efficient recycling of waste plastics.","PeriodicalId":18,"journal":{"name":"ACS Macro Letters","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Macro Letters","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00054","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLYMER SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The effective management of plastic waste is critical for environmental sustainability. This work explores the use of carbocation catalysts for the recycling of common polyesters and polycarbonates through alcoholysis. We demonstrate complete depolymerization of end-of-life materials and investigate the relationship between the catalytic reactivity and the structural features of the carbocation compounds, including the cations and their counteranions. Carbocations function as Lewis acids, facilitating the interaction with carbonyls in polymer chains. Moreover, our approach enables the hierarchical degradation of the polyester blends. This research not only elucidates the catalytic role of carbocations in the alcoholysis of these polymers, but also establishes a metal-free process for the efficient recycling of waste plastics.
期刊介绍：
ACS Macro Letters publishes research in all areas of contemporary soft matter science in which macromolecules play a key role, including nanotechnology, self-assembly, supramolecular chemistry, biomaterials, energy generation and storage, and renewable/sustainable materials. Submissions to ACS Macro Letters should justify clearly the rapid disclosure of the key elements of the study. The scope of the journal includes high-impact research of broad interest in all areas of polymer science and engineering, including cross-disciplinary research that interfaces with polymer science.
With the launch of ACS Macro Letters, all Communications that were formerly published in Macromolecules and Biomacromolecules will be published as Letters in ACS Macro Letters.
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