Less than 8% of the polymers produced each year are currently recycled and of that small percentage the majority are recycled mechanically by grinding and melt-processing. This leads to a low-quality material that is often rapidly discarded as waste. Aside from mechanical recycling and pyrolysis, chemical recycling of plastic materials has emerged as an alternative recycling method that can potentially retain the inherent value of the plastics as it can be used to produce high purity monomers. Specifically, by chemical depolymerisation virgin like monomers can be attained and/or innovative added-value building blocks can be synthesized to prepare high added value synthons in an upcycling approach.2 As plastics have traditionally been designed for durability and not for recyclability, their chemical conversion to new products is nowadays considered a grand challenge. While our initial approaches were directed to the design of highly thermally stable ionic salts to guide the chemical recycling at high temperatures (close to 200 °C),3 the group is now moving towards the selective chemical deconstruction of plastics using energy efficient processes.4 This not only allows for the selective recycling of one plastic in the presence of other plastics, but also be used to produce high added value organic synthons in high yields in a fully sustainable cycle.5

Organocatalysis directed selective chemical deconstruction of plastics using energy efficient processes

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.