Floor Temperature-regulated Poly(ether-alt-ester) With Thermal Stability and Chemical Recyclability Enabled by...

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Sustainable Chemistry

Background:

• Poly(ether-alt-ester)s (PEAEs) offer a balance between depolymerizability and thermostability for advanced materials.
• Current PEAE research focuses on ceiling temperature (Tc) regulation, often limited by monomer synthesis.
• Floor temperature (Tf)-regulated PEAEs show promise for enhanced thermodynamic stability but face synthesis challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel synthesis strategy for macrocyclic ether-ester monomers.
• To create the first example of a Tf-regulated PEAE with high performance.
• To demonstrate improved thermostability, melt processibility, and chemical recyclability in PEAEs.

Main Methods:

• Developed a "polycondensation-depolymerization" strategy for macrocyclic monomer synthesis.
• Synthesized Tf-regulated PEAEs via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of macrocyclic monomers.
• Characterized the resulting PEAEs for thermal properties, crystallinity, and processibility.

Main Results:

• Successfully synthesized macrocyclic ether-ester monomers with high efficiency and selectivity.
• Produced a semi-crystalline, ductile Tf-regulated PEAE with a high decomposition temperature (T_d,5% = 378.3 °C).
• Demonstrated superior thermal stability compared to Tc-regulated poly(1,4-dioxan-2-one) (PPDO, T_d,5% = 238.4 °C).

Conclusions:

• The "polycondensation-depolymerization" strategy enables the synthesis of high-performance Tf-regulated PEAEs.
• Tf-regulated PEAEs overcome limitations of Tc-regulated analogs, offering enhanced thermostability and recyclability.
• This work provides a molecular design principle for developing advanced poly(ether-alt-ester) materials.