美国科罗拉多州立大学Chen, Eugene Y.-X.研究团队报道了基于简单gem-双取代戊内酯的圆形聚酯平台。相关研究成果发表在2022年11月7日出版的《自然—化学》。

环状单体的双核双取代是提高聚合物化学可回收性的有效策略，但它仅用于此目的，且常常以牺牲性能为代价。

该文中，研究人员提出了协同使用gem-α，α-二取代的规模可用的生物基δ-戊内酯，以产生gem-二烷基取代的戊内酯（VLR2），其生成的聚合物不仅解决了较差的化学可回收性，而且解决了母体聚（δ-戊内酯）的低熔点和机械性能。因此，gem二取代聚酯（PVLR2）不仅表现出完全的化学可回收性，而且具有与聚乙烯相当或超过聚乙烯的热、机械和运输性能。

通过揭示烷基链长度对PVLR2材料性能影响的基本结构-性能研究，该文建立了一个基于VLR2的高性能聚酯平台，并强调了协同利用gem二取代对提高可持续聚酯的化学可回收性和材料性能的重要性。

附：英文原文

Title: A circular polyester platform based on simple gem-disubstituted valerolactones

Author: Li, Xin-Lei, Clarke, Ryan W., Jiang, Jing-Yang, Xu, Tie-Qi, Chen, Eugene Y.-X.

Issue&Volume: 2022-11-07

Abstract: Geminal disubstitution of cyclic monomers is an effective strategy to enhance the chemical recyclability of their polymers, but it is utilized for that purpose alone and often at the expense of performance properties. Here we present synergistic use of gem-α,α-disubstitution of available at-scale, bio-based δ-valerolactones to yield gem-dialkyl-substituted valerolactones (VLR2), which generate polymers that solve not only the poor chemical recyclability but also the low melting temperature and mechanical performance of the parent poly(δ-valerolactone); the gem-disubstituted polyesters (PVLR2) therefore not only exhibit complete chemical recyclability but also thermal, mechanical and transport properties that rival or exceed those of polyethylene. Through a fundamental structure–property study that reveals intriguing impacts of the alkyl chain length on materials performance of PVLR2, this work establishes a simple circular, high-performance polyester platform based on VLR2 and highlights the importance of synergistic utilization of gem-disubstitution for enhancing both chemical recyclability and materials performance of sustainable polyesters.

DOI: 10.1038/s41557-022-01077-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-022-01077-x