Since the industrial synthesis of the first polymeric materials and their commercialization in the 1930’s, breakthroughs and innovations in polymer chemistry have significantly contributed to the improvement of our daily life.1 The resulting accumulation of polymeric materials in the environment makes the development of environment-friendly and cost effective routes for recycling, a main challenge for next generations. In the 20th century the goal was to design polymers to withstand degradation and depolymerization. Nowadays, less than 8% of the polymers produced each year are recycled and most of them are mechanically recycled that includes grinding and melt-processing. Besides mechanical recycling and pyrolysis, the final method of recycling and probably the most challenging one to date is chemical recycling. The polymer is used as a starting reagent to generate high purity monomers using simple and efficient transformations. Specifically, from chemical depolymerisation innovative added-value building blocks could be synthesized to prepare highly added value polymers (smart chemical recycling approach) from commodity polymers.2 To afford this goal, an innovative protic ionic salt, cheap, easy-to-produce and recyclable, has been developed to catalyse the depolymerisation.3 Thermally stable up to 400 °C, this organocatalyst is active at the high reaction temperatures required for degrading polymers. It already allowed us to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and Bisphenol A based polycarbonate (BPA-PC), in a fully sustainable cycle.

Designing thermally stable organocatalyst for high temperature polymerization and depolymerizations

2019 Fall National Meeting

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