Heterogenous electromediated depolymerization of highly crystalline polyoxymethylene

Post-consumer plastic waste in the environment has driven the scientific community to develop deconstruction methods that yield valued substances from these synthetic macromolecules. Electrocatalysis is a well-established method for achieving challenging transformations in small molecule synthesis....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2023-08, Vol.14 (1), p.4847-9, Article 4847
Main Authors: Zhou, Yuting, Rodríguez-López, Joaquín, Moore, Jeffrey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
140/131
639/301/923/1028
639/638/161/886
639/638/455/959
Catalysis
Chemical synthesis
Delrin (trademark)
Depolymerization
Electrocatalysis
Electrochemistry
Electrolysis
Green chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Macromolecules
Monomers
multidisciplinary
Plastic debris
Propanol
Renewable energy
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Solvents
Thermoplastic resins
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Summary:Post-consumer plastic waste in the environment has driven the scientific community to develop deconstruction methods that yield valued substances from these synthetic macromolecules. Electrocatalysis is a well-established method for achieving challenging transformations in small molecule synthesis. Here we present the first electro-chemical depolymerization of polyoxymethylene—a highly crystalline engineering thermoplastic (Delrin®)—into its repolymerizable monomer, formaldehyde/1,3,5-trioxane, under ambient conditions. We investigate this electrochemical deconstruction by employing solvent screening, cyclic voltammetry, divided cell studies, electrolysis with redox mediators, small molecule model studies, and control experiments. Our findings determine that the reaction proceeds via a heterogeneous electro-mediated acid depolymerization mechanism. The bifunctional role of the co-solvent 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) is also revealed. This study demonstrates the potential of electromediated depolymerization serving as an important role in sustainable chemistry by merging the concepts of renewable energy and circular plastic economy. Post-consumer plastic waste in the environment has driven the scientific community to develop deconstruction methods that yield valued substances from these synthetic macromolecules but depolymerization of highly crystalline engineering thermoplastics remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate that electrocatalysis can be used to depolymerize polyoxymethylene into repolymerizable monomer under ambient conditions.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-39362-z