Chemically Recyclable Dithioacetal Polymers via Reversible Entropy-Driven Ring-Opening Polymerization** |
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Authors: | Dr. Lasith S. Kariyawasam Julian Rolsma Dr. Ying Yang |
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Affiliation: | Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557 USA |
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Abstract: | In a sustainable circular economy, polymers capable of chemical recycling to monomers are highly desirable. We report an efficient monomer-polymer recycling of polydithioacetal (PDTA). Pristine PDTAs were readily synthesized from 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde and alkyl dithiols. They then exhibited depolymerizability via ring-closing depolymerization into macrocycles, followed by entropy-driven ring-opening polymerization (ED-ROP) to reform the virgin polymers. High conversions were obtained for both the forward and reverse reactions. Once crosslinked, the network exhibited thermal reprocessability enabled by acid-catalyzed dithioacetal exchange. The network retained the recyclability into macrocyclic monomers in solvent which can repolymerize to regenerate the crosslinked network. These results demonstrated PDTA as a new molecular platform for the design of recyclable polymers and the advantages of ED-ROP for which polymerization is favored at higher temperatures. |
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Keywords: | Chemical Recycling to Monomer Entropy-Driven Ring-Opening Polymerization Macrocycles Polydithioacetal Transthioacetalization |
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