Sustainable, Recyclable, and Bench-Stable Catalytic System for Synthesis of Poly(ester-<i>b</i>-carbonate)
Yifan Jia, Bokun Li, Yifei Sun, Chenyang Hu, Xiang Li, Shunjie Liu, Xianhong Wang, Xuan Pang, Xuesi Chen
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Transferring abundant, inexpensive, and nontoxic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into biodegradable polymers is one of the ideal ways to promote sustainable development. Although a great deal of preeminent researches has been reported in the last decade, including well-designed organometallic complexes, Lewis pairs, etc. The moisture- and air-sensitive nature of these extensively used catalysts preclude their use in industrial applications. Herein, we report a novel stable catalyst system of commercial zinc glutarate (ZnGA) with a supported metal for the synthesis of poly(ester- b -carbonate). The special supported microstructure facilitates efficient polymerizations via a plausible heterometal coordination mechanism. Notably, the resulted biodegradable CO 2 -based copolymer showed strong tensile strength (>40 MPa), improved elongation (45% versus 7%), excellent transmittance, and low water vapor permeability (WVP) (1.7 × 10 –11 g m –1 s –1 Pa –1 ). Moreover, the supported ZnGA catalyst is recyclable, and its simple and low-cost preparation process is compatible with the manufacturing and processing methods of the existing infrastructure.