Reassessing the Photochemical Upcycling of Polystyrene Using Acridinium Salts.

ABSTRACT: Polystyrene (PS) is a commodity plastic recalcitrant to chemical recycling or upcycling processes. Approaches aimed at deconstructing PS by photocatalytic means struggle to generate high-energy species capable of cleaving the robust C-H and C-C bonds of PS. We show that 9-mesityl-10-methylacridinium perchlorate (MA) is capable of upcycling various grades of PS substrates into up to 40 % benzoic acid (BAc), formic acid (FA) and small proportions of acetophenone (ACP), under visible light (456 nm) or through solar radiation. Time-resolved emission and absorption spectroscopy evidence that a reaction with oxygen is the primary photochemical step in oxygen-saturated solutions, accounting for 77 % of the photons absorbed vs. 1 % for the direct reaction with PS (0.303 M in repeating units). Thes

SUBMITTER: De Abreu AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11796324 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature