Journal
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 142, Issue 33, Pages 14267-14275Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c05675
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Funding
- European Research Council [ERC AdG 692775]
- Planning and Budgeting Committee of Israel
- Feinberg Graduate School for a (senior) postdoctoral fellowship
- Sustainability and Energy Research Initiative (SAERI) foundation
- Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program
- GENCI-CINES [2019 AP010811227]
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The widespread crisis of plastic pollution demands discovery of new and sustainable approaches to degrade robust plastics such as nylons. Using a green and sustainable approach based on hydrogenation, in the presence of a ruthenium pincer catalyst at 150 degrees C and 70 bar H-2, we report here the first example of hydrogenative depolymerization of conventional, widely used nylons and polyamides, in general. Under the same catalytic conditions, we also demonstrate the hydrogenation of a polyurethane to produce diol, diamine, and methanol. Additionally, we demonstrate an example where monomers (and oligomers obtained from the hydrogenation process can be dehydrogenated back to a poly(oligo)amide of approximately similar molecular weight, thus completing a closed loop cycle for recycling of polyamides. Based on the experimental and density functional theory studies, we propose a catalytic cycle for the process that is facilitated by metal-ligand cooperativity. Overall, this unprecedented transformation, albeit at the proof of concept level, offers a new approach toward a cleaner route to recycling nylons.
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