Ionic Liquid Catalysts for Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Glycolysis: Use of Structure Activity Relationships to Combine Activity with Biodegradability.

ABSTRACT: The chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) plastic by catalytic glycolysis is an enabling technology for the circular economy that is attracting burgeoning academic and commercial interest. Ionic liquids are emerging as a versatile catalyst class for this transformation, yet general strategies for how both high activity and biodegradability can be incorporated into catalyst design have not yet emerged. Beginning with an active literature catalyst incorporating a phosphonium cation of concern from a biodegradability standpoint, a structure activity relationship study involving 33 systematically varied ionic liquid catalysts was undertaken, which highlighted (inter alia) the contribution of cation lipophilicity to activity and identified the hydrocinnamate and benzoa

SUBMITTER: Pedrini L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11795626 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature