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Updated: Sep 9, 2025

Designed for Molecular Recycling: A Lignin-Derived Semi-aromatic Biobased Polymer
Published on: November 30, 2020
Linear Polyethylene with Ketone Groups for Photodegradability: Higher Efficiency with Side-Chain Carbonyls than
Haobo Yuan1, Kohei Takahashi1, Shintaro Nakagawa2
1Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan.
None:
In this study, linear polyethylenes bearing ketone groups in their side-chains were prepared by palladium-catalyzed copolymerization of ethylene and methyl vinyl ketone (poly(E/MVK)) and the photodegradation behavior was compared with polyethylene bearing in-chain carbonyl groups (poly(E/CO)). Poly(E/MVK) showed a faster photodegradation rate and a more significant decrease of the molecular weight than poly(E/CO). By 1H NMR analysis, both Norrish type I and type II scissions are involved for the degradation of poly(E/MVK), probably due to the existence of MVK groups in amorphous region, which is preferable for the radical chain reactions and the main chain cleavage. The codegradation in a blend of poly(E/MVK) and HDPE was also demonstrated.
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