Polymer Backbone Editing with Cyclopropenes via Olefin Metathesis
Jiyun Zhang, Will R. Gutekunst
TL;DR
This paper introduces a new method to modify and upgrade common polymers using cyclopropenes, enabling recycling and improving material properties.
Contribution
A novel polymer upcycling approach using cyclopropenes via ring-opening cross metathesis is introduced.
Findings
High conversion of cyclopropenes (>90%) was achieved during the editing process.
Postediting molecular weights remained above 22 kDa, preserving polymer integrity.
The method altered chemical and thermal properties of resulting copolymers.
Abstract
The limited ability to recycle or upcycle many commodity polymers with all carbon backbones poses a significant challenge to polymer chemists and society as a whole. In this work, sterically hindered cyclopropenes (CPEs) are used to promote ring-opening cross metathesis reactions with alkene-containing polymers to upgrade the original materials into functional copolymers through a formal backbone editing process. This polymer backbone editing process was able to achieve high conversion of the CPEs (>90%) and maintain reasonable postediting molecular weights (>22 kDa). The method was applied to different CPEs and olefin-containing polymers, resulting in changes in the chemical and thermal properties of the resulting copolymer materials. This work advances avenues for polymer upcycling processes, offering new directions for repurposing widely used olefinic polymers.
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Taxonomy
TopicsSynthetic Organic Chemistry Methods · Cyclopropane Reaction Mechanisms · Click Chemistry and Applications