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Depolymerization of End‐of‐Life Poly(lactide) to Lactide via Zinc‐Catalysis
Author(s) -
Alberti Christoph,
Enthaler Stephan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.202003979
Subject(s) - depolymerization , lactide , zinc , catalysis , reagent , chemistry , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , polymerization
The chemical recycling of poly(lactide) (PLA), especially the initial depolymerization step was studied. High molecular weight PLA was depolymerized in the presence of zinc catalyst to lactide, the industrial relevant chemical for the synthesis of high molecular weight PLA; therefore, an efficient recycling is feasible without the need for depolymerization reagents. An excellent performance was observed for zinc(II) acetate with turnover frequencies of up to ∼260 h −1 at 200–210 °C. Noteworthy, the lactide was isolated in high purity by reactive distillation. Furthermore, the zinc(II) acetate catalyst was recycled up to five times.