Initiators for Continuous Activator Regeneration (ICAR) Depolymerization.

ABSTRACT: Chemical recycling of polymers synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) typically requires high temperatures (i.e., 170 °C) to operate effectively, not only consuming unnecessary energy but also compromising depolymerization yields due to unavoidable end-group deterioration. To overcome this, the concept of initiators for continuous activator regeneration (ICAR) depolymerization is introduced herein as a broadly applicable approach to significantly reduce reaction temperatures for ATRP depolymerizations. Addition of commercially available free radical initiators enables the on-demand increase of depolymerization efficiency from <1% to 96%, achieving monomer generation at 120 °C, with conversions on par with thermal reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) d

SUBMITTER: Jones GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11673573 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature