Chemically Recyclable Polyethylene‐like Sulfur‐Containing Plastics from Sustainable Feedstocks

Abstract

The green revolution in plastics should be accelerated due to growing sustainability concerns. Here, we develop a series of chemically recyclable polymers from the first reported cascade polymerization of H2O, COS, and diacrylates. In addition to abundant feedstocks, the method is efficient and air‐tolerant, uses common organic bases as catalysts, and yields polymers with high molecular weights under mild conditions. Such polymers, structurally like polyethylene with low‐density in‐chain polar groups, manifest impressive toughness and ductility comparable to high‐density polyethylene. The in‐chain ester group acts as a breaking point, enabling these polymers to undergo chemical recycling through two loops. The structures and properties of these polymers also have an immeasurably expanded range owing to the versatility of our method. The readily available raw materials, facile synthesis, and high performance make these polymers promising prospects as sustainable materials in practice.

Copolymerization Involving Sulfur-Containing Monomers

“…The high monomer compatibility enables a wide range of diacrylates that contain a long C sequence, which affords polymers with mechanical properties comparable with that of polyethylene. Moreover, the in-chain ester group functions as a breaking point, thus imparting these polymers with chemical recyclability …”

Closed-loop recycling of lignin-based sustainable polymers with an all-hydrocarbon backbone

“…, ester bonds and ether bonds) to the polymer backbone, which serve as the key scission sites during degradation. 4–10 These labile chemical bonds could also lead to undesirable mechanical performance reduction and depressed thermal stability compared with polyolefins. 11…”

“…1 Most degradable sustainable polymers rely on engineering reactive bonds (e.g., ester bonds and ether bonds) to the polymer backbone, which serve as the key scission sites during degradation. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] These labile chemical bonds could also lead to undesirable mechanical performance reduction and depressed thermal stability compared with polyolefins. 11 In the age of controlled polymerization, nature-derived molecular biomass has been customized into versatile renewable monomers and building blocks through macromolecular engineering, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] including living polymerization and postmodification strategies (e.g., anionic polymerization, 20 atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), 21,22 single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP), [23][24][25] reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, [26][27][28][29] ring-opening polymerization, [30][31][32] and click chemistry 33,34 ) as synthesis tools.…”

Processing Plastic Wastes into Value-Added Carbon Adsorbents by Sulfur-Based Solvothermal Synthesis

“…New approaches are therefore urgently needed for the efficient conversion of plastic wastes into carbon materials with high yields and porosity. Recent technologies mainly focus on the following: (1) depolymerizing polymers into corresponding monomers or oligomers (or their derivatives) and then converting monomers or oligomers (or derivatives) into high-value chemicals; − (2) degrading polymer wastes into platform small molecules such as CO/H 2 , CH 4 , formic acid, and methanol, and then these reactive molecules are further transformed into high-value chemicals; ,− (3) based on the activation and fracture of specific chemical bonds, plastic polymer wastes are directly transformed. ,− In fact, those processes significantly contribute to this field, while the plastic recycling method by earth-abundant materials or industrial byproducts is still pursued by scientists …”

“…21,26−29 In fact, those processes significantly contribute to this field, while the plastic recycling method by earthabundant materials or industrial byproducts is still pursued by scientists. 30 Besides reusing polymer wastes, CO 2 capture is another key process for both green chemistry and the circular economy. Compared with chemical adsorption, membrane separation, and low-temperature distillation, the physical adsorption method has the advantages of low energy consumption, simplicity of technology, low cost, wide temperature and pressure range, stable operation, and no equipment corrosion.…”