In addition to traditional fossil resources, there are various carbon sources rather less utilized at this moment; the examples are CO2, biomass, and plastic waste. Among them, recycling and upcycling of plastic wastes are recognized as emerging research target for academia and for industry. While some of the thermoplastics find efficient strategies of mechanical and chemical recycling, recycling of thermosets is even more challenging.
Here in this presentation, we report our progress in degradation of thermosetting resins represented by epoxy resins, polyurethanes, and polyureas.1 Efficient bond cleavage allowed us to recover monomers in good yields. Synthesis of olefin-based degradable polymers will be also presented.2
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2. (a) Tang, F. W. Seidel, K. Nozaki, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 26506–26510. (b) Yuan, H.; Takahashi, K.; Hayashi, S.; Suzuki, M.; Fujikake, N.; Kasuya, K.; Zhou, J.; Nakagawa, S.; Yoshie, N.; Li, C.; Yamaguchi, K.; Nozaki, K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 13658–13665. (c) Lu, Y.; Takahashi, K.; Zhou, J.; Nontarin, R.; Nakagawa, S.; Yoshie, N.; Nozaki, K. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, e202410849. (d) Lu, B,; Takahashi, K.; Zhou, J.; Nakagawa, S.; Yamamoto, S.; Katashima, T.; Yoshie, N.; Nozaki, K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. in press. 10.1021/jacs.4c07458