The ever-growing problem of plastic waste requires new ways of thinking. This is perhaps more apparent in the case of PVC than any other plastic. The inherent issue with PVC that prevents its processing post-use is the large presence of chlorine (&gt; 50 wt%), and its propensity to undergo dehydrochlorination reactions. Herein, we utilize the dehydrochlorination reaction instead of avoiding it. This is done by targeting the produced double bonds for further modification of the polymer as they are ideal spots for its depolymerization. The produced dehydrochlorinated PVC is treated with KMnO<sub>4</sub> to produce cleaved carboxyl terminated PVC segments; or by reacting it with ethylene in the presence of Grubbs catalyst to produce vinyl terminated PVC segments. The products of these reactions can be subjected to further dehydrochlorination and cleavage reactions with the ultimate goal of useful small molecule products for a variety of applications. This talk will present an overview of our work to date, along with challenges and opportunities encountered along the way.

Utilization of dehydrochlorination to enable controlled depolymerization of PVC

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