| Title: |
From polymers to rings and back again: chemical recycling of polyesters to macrolactones |
| Authors: |
Smith, ML; McGuire, TM; Kerr, RWF; Williams, CK |
| Publisher Information: |
Wiley |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) |
| Description: |
Cyclic anhydride and epoxide ring-opening copolymerization is a versatile and controlled route to make polyesters, gaining attention in different application sectors but so far the chemical recycling of these polyesters to cyclic monomers is under-explored. Here, the catalytic chemical recycling of aliphatic polyesters to selectively form 16- and 18-membered lactones is presented. The recycling reactions are catalysed using commercial tin octoate and conducted in the polymer melt (230 °C) resulting in high conversions to the macro-lactones (>90%). The recycled macro-lactones undergo catalysed ring-opening polymerizations to produce polyesters with equivalent properties to the virgin materials. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202423478 |
| DOI: |
10.1002/anie.202423478 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202423478; https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d54e8fbc-aa9a-48e9-9b1e-02865131531a |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; CC Attribution (CC BY) |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.C138D575 |
| Database: |
BASE |