As the vast consumption of plastic materials is having undeniable impacts the earth’s environment, a sustainable solution to upcycle plastic wastes can not only help to alleviate pollution but also provide new avenues to obtain small molecules while using fewer new petroleum-derived resources. For instance, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is one of the most commonly used plastics due to its high mechanical and chemical properties, which also cause its resistance to natural degradation. Mechanical recycling of PET leads to downcycling (i.e., loss of properties) and is not a viable long-term solution. However, among the common plastic wastes where resin identifcatio codes 2-6 are polyolefins, PET (resin identification code 1) is a polyester whose backbone linkages can be more readily cleaved.<br/><br/>Several general chemical treatment methods have been used to depolymerize PET waste. It has been found that aminolysis of PET gives better product efficiency in terms of specific product yield with the highest conversion. Aminolytic chain cleavage of PET produces terephthalamides, although many compounds produced in these reactions currently have very limited or no further known uses. Our work in this area aims to depolymerize PET with suitable amine compounds such that the products obtained can be further transformed/rearranged into more valuable products. This presentation will detail our efforts in this area and conversion of terephthalamides to small molecules and new polymers.

Strategic approaches to upcycle PET into new building blocks and small molecules

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ACS Fall 2022

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