Chemically recyclable fluorescent polyesters via the ring-opening copolymerization of epoxides and anhydrides Taylor Young a , Owaen G. Guppy a , Alysia J. Draper a , Joshua M. Whitington a , Benson M. Kariuki, a Alison Paul, a Mark Eaton b , Simon J. A. Pope* a , Benjamin D. Ward * a a Cardiff University, School of Chemistry, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. b Cardiff University, School of Engineering, Queen’s Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK. Polymers rarely possess the desired properties for their intended application; additives (plasticizers, flame- retardants, stabilizers, colourants) modify their physical properties to those needed in the final product. Colourants are particularly detrimental to recycling technologies, since they cannot be removed by reprocessing; reprocessed plastic retains colour from the original material. We have prepared single-component, coloured polymers by adding chromophore monomers to epoxide-anhydride ring-opening copolymerization reactions; chromophores need only be added at dopant levels to give highly coloured materials with little change in properties from the base polymer. We have depolymerized the polymers to the parent acid/alcohol and have remade colourless polymer from reformed epoxide and anhydride. Our approach paves the way to using dopant-level monomers to access recyclable polymers with dial-a-property tunability.
P129F
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog