Chemically recyclable polyvinyl chloride-like plastics.

ABSTRACT: Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the world's third-most widely manufactured thermoplastic, but has the lowest recycling rate. The development of PVC-like plastics that can be depolymerized back to monomer contributes to a circular plastic economy, but has not been accessed. Here, we develop a series of chemically recyclable plastics from the reversible copolymerization of cyclic anhydride with chloral. The copolymerization is highly efficient through the anionic or cationic mechanism under mild conditions, yielding polyesters with tunable structure and properties from multiple commercial monomers. Notably, these polyesters manifest mechanical properties comparable to PVC and polystyrene. Meanwhile, such polyesters are flame-retardant like PVC due to high chloride content. Of significance, these

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11447067 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature