Unexpected efficiency of cyclic amidine catalysts in depolymerizing poly(ethylene terephthalate) |
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| Authors: | Kazuki Fukushima Daniel J Coady Gavin O Jones Hamid A Almegren Abdullah M Alabdulrahman Fares D Alsewailem Hans W Horn Julia E Rice James L Hedrick |
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| Institution: | 1. IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120;2. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992‐8510, Japan;3. Petrochemicals Research Institute, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia |
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| Abstract: | This article describes studies on the catalytic activity of several nitrogen‐based organic catalysts for the depolymerization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), in which a few cyclic amidines work more effectively than a potent, bifunctional guanidine‐based catalyst 1,5,7‐triazabicyclo‐4,4,0]‐dec‐5‐ene (TBD) in the presence of short chain diols that play a role in activation of carbonyl groups through hydrogen bonding. Further studies prove that the catalytic efficiency at the above specific conditions depends only on the extent of activation of a hydroxyl group rather than simply the pKa of the bases. For glycolysis with excess short‐chain alkanediols, 1,8‐diazabicyclo5.4.0]undec‐7‐ene is the best catalyst. In contrast, TBD shows outstanding catalytic activity in depolymerizations of PET with mono‐alcohols and longer‐chain diols. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013 |
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| Keywords: | degradation monomer organocatalysis polyesters |
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