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Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Depolymerizable Olefinic Polymers Based on Fused-Ring Cyclooctene Monomers
Published on: December 16, 2022
Chemical Recycling of End-of-Life Poly(lactide) via Zinc-Catalyzed Depolymerization and Polymerization
Even Cheung1, Christoph Alberti1, Stephan Enthaler1
1Universität Hamburg, Institut für Anorganische und Angewandte Chemie, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract:
The chemical recycling of poly(lactide) was investigated based on depolymerization and polymerization processes. Using methanol as depolymerization reagent and zinc salts as catalyst, poly(lactide) was depolymerized to methyl lactate applying microwave heating. An excellent performance was observed for zinc(II) acetate with turnover frequencies of up to 45000 h-1. In a second step the monomer methyl lactate was converted to (pre)poly(lactide) in the presence of catalytic amounts of zinc salts. Here zinc(II) triflate revealed excellent performance for the polymerization process (yield: 91 %, Mn ∼8970 g/mol). Moreover, the (pre)poly(lactide) was depolymerized to lactide, the industrial relevant molecule for accessing high molecular weight poly(lactide), using zinc(II) acetate as catalyst.
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