Stereocomplexed Functional and Statistical Poly(lactide-carbonate)s via a Simple Organocatalytic System

The stereocomplexation of polylactide (PLA) has been widely relied upon to develop degradable, sustainable materials with increased strength and improved material properties in comparison to stereopure PLA. However, forming functionalized copolymers of PLA while retaining high crystallinity remains elusive. Herein, the controlled ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of lactide (LA) and functionalized cyclic carbonate monomers is undertaken. The produced polymers are shown to remain crystalline up to 25 mol % carbonate content and are efficiently stereocomplexed with homopolymer PLA and copolymers of opposite chirality. Polymers with alkene and alkyne pendent handles are shown to undergo efficient derivatization with thiol–ene click chemistry, which would allow both the covalent conjugation of therapeutic moieties and tuning of material properties

Stereocomplexed Functional and Statistical Poly(lactide-carbonate)s via a Simple Organocatalytic System

The stereocomplexation of polylactide (PLA) has been widely relied upon to develop degradable, sustainable materials with increased strength and improved material properties in comparison to stereopure PLA. However, forming functionalized copolymers of PLA while retaining high crystallinity remains elusive. Herein, the controlled ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of lactide (LA) and functionalized cyclic carbonate monomers is undertaken. The produced polymers are shown to remain crystalline up to 25 mol % carbonate content and are efficiently stereocomplexed with homopolymer PLA and copolymers of opposite chirality. Polymers with alkene and alkyne pendent handles are shown to undergo efficient derivatization with thiol–ene click chemistry, which would allow both the covalent conjugation of therapeutic moieties and tuning of material properties

Bio-based non-isocyanate poly(hydroxy urethane)s (PHU) derived from vanillin and CO₂

As an alternative to the use of hazardous phosgene-based isocyanates for polyurethane preparation, non-isocyanate poly(hydroxy urethanes) (PHU) based on 5-membered cyclic carbonates have been developed. However, to date, most aromatic PHUs are oil-based or based on toxic precursors such as bisphenol-A. In this work, bio-based non-isocyanate poly(hydroxy urethanes) (PHUs) prepared from vanillin are reported for the first time. First, three different vanillin-derived bis-cyclic carbonates were synthesized. Subsequently, each monomer was reacted with two different bis-amines to yield six different PHUs, which were characterized in depth by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, SEC and DSC. PHUs based on vanillic acid were found to exhibit thermal properties superior to bisphenol A-based PHUs, with a Tg of around 66 °C. It is envisioned that vanillin-based PHUs could potentially be a safer alternative to harmful bisphenol A-based PHUs and provide a useful strategy for CO2 revalorization, especially considering that vanillin is an abundant byproduct of Kraft lignin production

Accelerating the Curing of Hybrid Poly(Hydroxy Urethane)-Epox y Adhesives by the Thiol-Epoxy Chemistry

The polyaddition between dicyclic carbonates and diamines leading to poly(hydroxy urethane)s (PHUs) has emerged as the preferred method for the synthesis of green, non-isocyanate polyurethanes. However, when proposed for use as structural adhesives, the long times for completion of aminolysis of the 5-membered cyclic carbonates under ambient conditions force the use of complementary chemistries to accelerate the curing process. In this work, a system that combines an amino-terminated PHU (NH2-PHU-NH2), an epoxy resin, and a thiol compound was employed to develop high-shear strength PHU-epoxy hybrid adhesives able to cure at room temperature in short times. A NH2-PHU-NH2 prepolymer synthesized by using a sub-stoichiometric quantity of dicyclic carbonates was mixed with a bisphenol A-based epoxy resin for the preparation of the structural adhesive. While this adhesive showed good lap-shear strength and shear resistance under static load and temperature, the curing process was slow. In order to speed up the curing process, a thiol (trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercapto propionate)) was added and its impact on the curing process as well as on the adhesive properties was evaluated. The trifunctional thiol additive allowed for faster curing in the presence of the 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine basic catalyst. Moreover, a combination of NH2-PHU-NH2 and the thiol as curing agents for the epoxy resin resulted in adhesives with superior toughness, without any deterioration of the ultimate lap-shear strength or shear resistance under load and temperature, making these adhesives suitable for high-demand applications in the automotive industry.The authors would like to acknowledge the technical and human support provided by SGIker (UPV/EHU and ERDF, EU) . A.G.-L. would like to acknowledge the University of the Basque Country for the predoctoral fellowship received to carry out this work and Dr. Nora Aranburu for the help with the lap-shear measurements. ORIBAY Group Automotive also wants to acknowledge HAZITEK program for the financial support of the project no ZL-2019/00193. The authors want to acknowledge the financial support of the EU through the project NIPU-EJD 9555700. C.D. is FNRS Research Director and would like to thank FNRS for financial support

Sustainable Materials and Chemical Processes for Additive Manufacturing

Unformatted postprintAdditive manufacturing (AM) is energizing the fields of chemistry and materials science to develop new inks for new applications within fields such as aerospace, robotics, and healthcare. AM enables the fabrication of innumerable 3D geometries that cannot be easily produced by other means. In spite of the great promise of AM as an advanced form of future manufacturing, there are still fundamental challenges with respect to sustainability that need to be addressed. Some of the material needs for AM include sustainable sources of printing inks, resins, and filaments, as well as pathways for polymer recycling, upcycling, and chemical circularity. Furthermore, the combination of bio-sourced and biodegradable polymers with additive manufacturing could enable the fabrication of objects that can be recycled back into feedstock or degraded into non-toxic products after they have served their function. Herein, we review the recent literature on the design and chemistry of the polymers to that enable sustainability within the field of AM, with a particular focus on biodegradable and bio-sourced polymers. We also discuss some of the sustainability-related applications that have emerged as a result of AM technologies.E.S.-R. thanks the European funding by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF-GF) 841879-4D Biogel. H.S. and C.J. thank MINECO for funding through MAT2017-83373-R. A.N. thanks the National Science Foundation for support (1752972)

ROP and crystallization behaviour of partially renewable triblock aromaticaliphatic copolymers derived from L-lactide

Two series of partially biobased ABA triblock copolyesters were successfully prepared by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-lactide initiated by two telechelic polyester polyols using an organic catalyst. B blocks were made of telechelic poly(hexamethylene terephthalate) (PHT) and poly(hexamethylene 2,5- furandicarboxylate) (PHF), respectively, with average molar masses of around 3500 g mol-1 and A blocks were made of poly(lactic acid)s (PLA) of different block lengths. For each series, four copolymers with different PHT/PLA and PHF/PLA compositions were prepared by varying the feed molar ratios. The triblock structure of the obtained copolymers was ascertained by 13C NMR, which confirms that the organic catalyst employed does not promote transesterification reactions at the low temperatures used for the reaction. All copolyesters were thermally stable under inert atmosphere up to around 300 °C. For all synthesized copolyesters, the PLA blocks were unable to crystallize, mainly due to racemization reactions taking place during L-lactide ROP. Both, PHT and PHF blocks were able to crystallize and their thermal and structural properties (Tm, Tc, Xc and lamellar thickness) were independent on PLA content until its concentration was very high and topological restrictions difficulted crystallization. According to SAXS, most copolymers were found to be miscible in the melt. Both PLA-b-PHT-b-PLA or PLA-b-PHF-b-PLA triblock copolymers showed a single Tg indicating that the components are miscible in the amorphous state.The POLYMAT/UPV/EHU team would like to acknowledge funding from MINECO through project: MAT2017-83014-C2-1-P, and from ALBA synchrotron facility. We also acknowledge the financial contribution of the Basque Government through grant IT1309-19 and the funding of the European Uniońs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 778092. Irma Flores would like to acknowledge CONACYT (Mexico) for the Ph.D. grant awarded

Insights on the Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma-Induced Free-Radical Polymerization of Allyl Ether Cyclic Carbonate Liquid Layers

Plasma-induced free-radical polymerizations rely on the formation of radical species to initiate polymerization, leading to some extent of monomer fragmentation. In this work, the plasma-induced polymerization of an allyl ether-substituted six-membered cyclic carbonate (A6CC) is demonstrated and emphasizes the retention of the cyclic carbonate moieties. Taking advantage of the low polymerization tendency of allyl monomers, the characterization of the oligomeric species is studied to obtain insights into the effect of plasma exposure on inducing free-radical polymerization. In less than 5 min of plasma exposure, a monomer conversion close to 90% is obtained. The molecular analysis of the oligomers by gel permeation chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (GPC-HRMS) further confirms the high preservation of the cyclic structure and, based on the detected end groups, points to hydrogen abstraction as the main contributor to the initiation and termination of polymer chain growth. These results demonstrate that the elaboration of surfaces functionalized with cyclic carbonates could be readily elaborated by atmospheric-pressure plasmas, for instance, by copolymerization

Synthesis of aromatic–aliphatic polyesters by enzymatic ring opening polymerization of cyclic oligoesters and their cyclodepolymerization for a circular economy

Cyclic oligomers of hexamethylene furanoate and hexamethylene terephthalate were obtained from 1,6-hexanediol and the corresponding methyl esters using Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) enzyme catalyst. HPLC, MALDI-TOF MS, and NMR analyses showed that mixtures composed from cyclic dimer up to heptamer were obtained almost quantitatively. Subsequently, these cycles were polymerized by ring opening polymerization (ROP) mediated by CALB to obtain semicrystalline polymers. In addition, we demonstrated that the polymers obtained from the ROP process could be transformed into cyclic oligomers in high yields using enzymatic cyclodepolymerization, thereby recycling the polymer in a circular biosynthetic path.Postprint (author's final draft

From Plastic Waste to New Materials for Energy Storage

The use of plastic waste to develop high added value materials, also known as upcycling, is a useful strategy towards the development of more sustainable materials. More specifically, the use of plastic waste as a feedstock for synthesising new materials for energy storage devices can not only provide a route to upgrading plastic waste but can also help in the search for sustainable materials. This perspective describes recent strategies for the use of plastic waste as a sustainable, cheap and abundant feedstock in the production of new materials for electrochemical energy storage devices such as lithium batteries, sodium batteries and supercapacitors. Two main strategies are described, the development of conducting carbons by combustion of plastic waste and the depolymerization of plastics into new chemicals and materials. In both cases, catalysis has been key to ensuring high efficiency and performance. Future opportunities and challenges are highlighted and hypotheses are made on how the use of plastic waste could enhance the circularity of current energy storage devices.NG acknowledges the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie agreement No. 101028682. CJ acknowledges the financial support from el Ministerio de ciencia e innovación from the Juan de la Cierva Program (FJC2020-045872-I). The funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie agreement No. 101028975 and Ministerio de ciencia e innovación under PDC2021-121461-I00 project is acknowledged

Chemical Upcycling of PET Waste towards Terephthalate Redox Nanoparticles for Energy Storage

Over 30 million ton of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is produced each year and no more than 60% of all PET bottles are reclaimed for recycling due to material property deteriorations during the mechanical recycling process. Herein, a sustainable approach is proposed to produce redox-active nanoparticles via the chemical upcycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste for application in energy storage. Redox-active nanoparticles of sizes lower than 100 nm were prepared by emulsion polymerization of a methacrylic-terephthalate monomer obtained by a simple methacrylate functionalization of the depolymerization product of PET (i.e., bis-hydroxy(2-ethyl) terephthalate, BHET). The initial cyclic voltammetry results of the depolymerization product of PET used as a model compound show a reversible redox process, when using a 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate/dimethyl sulfoxide electrolyte system, with a standard redox potential of −2.12 V vs. Fc/Fc+. Finally, the cycling performance of terephthalate nanoparticles was investigated using a 0.1 M TBAPF6 solution in acetonitrile as electrolyte in a three-electrode cell. The terephthalate anode electrode displays good cycling stability and performance at high C-rate (i.e., ≥5C), delivering a stable specific discharge capacity of 32.8 mAh.g−1 at a C-rate of 30 C, with a capacity retention of 94% after 100 cycles. However, a large hysteresis between the specific discharge and charge capacities and capacity fading are observed at lower C-rate (i.e., ≤2C), suggesting some irreversibility of redox reactions associated with the terephthalate moiety, in particular related to the oxidation process.NC would like to thank the University of the Basque Country for funding through a specialization of research staff fellowship (ESPDOC 19/99). JD thanks WBI International and the Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza (IT 999–16) for fundings. NG acknowledges the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie agreement No. 101028682