Radical Alternating Copolymerization of Twisted 1,3-Butadienes with Maleic Anhydride as a New Approach for Degradable Thermosetting Resin

Recycled (Bio)Plastics and (Bio)Plastic Composites: A Trade Opportunity in a Green Future

Today’s world is at the point where almost everyone realizes the usefulness of going green. Due to so-called global warming, there is an urgent need to find solutions to help the Earth and move towards a green future. Many worldwide events are focusing on the global technologies in plastics, bioplastic production, the recycling industry, and waste management where the goal is to turn plastic waste into a trade opportunity among the industrialists and manufacturers. The present work aims to review the recycling process via analyzing the recycling of thermoplastic, thermoset polymers, biopolymers, and their complex composite systems, such as fiber-reinforced polymers and nanocomposites. Moreover, it will be highlighted how the frame of the waste management, increasing the materials specificity, cleanliness, and a low level of collected material contamination will increase the potential recycling of plastics and bioplastics-based materials. At the same time, to have a real and approachable trade opportunity in recycling, it needs to implement an integrated single market for secondary raw materials.

Criegee Intermediates Beyond Ozonolysis: Synthetic and Mechanistic Insights

After more than 70 years since their discovery, Criegee intermediates (CIs) are back at the forefront of modern chemistry of short-lived reactive intermediates. They play an important role in the mechanistic context of chemical synthesis, total synthesis, pharmaceuticals, and, most importantly, climate-controlling aerosol formation as well as atmospheric chemistry. This Minireview summarizes key aspects of CIs (from the mechanism of formation, for example, by ozonolysis of alkenes and photolysis methods employing diiodo and diazo compounds, to their electronic structures and chemical reactivity), highlights the most recent findings and some landmark results of gas-phase kinetics, and detection/measurements. The recent progress in synthetic and mechanistic studies in the chemistry of CIs provides a guide to illustrate the possibilities for further investigations in this exciting field.

DFT Modeling of the Alternating Radical Copolymerization and Alder-Ene Reaction between Maleic Anhydride and Olefins

The free radical copolymerization of electron-acceptor and electron-donor vinyl monomers represents a particular case of sequence-controlled polymerization. The reactions of maleic anhydride (MA) or related compounds (acceptor comonomers) with α-olefins (donor comonomers) result in the formation of the alternating copolymers that have clear prospects for petrochemical and biomedical applications. However, in contrast to the well-established polymerization of acrylate monomers, these processes have not been studied theoretically using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In our research, we performed a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the free radical copolymerization of MA and closely related maleimide with different structural types of olefins at mpw1pw91/6-311g(d) level of the DFT. The results of our calculations clearly indicated the preference of the alternating reaction mode for the copolymerization of MA with α-olefins, isobutylene and prospective unsaturated monomers, as well as methylenealkanes. The DFT modeling of the thermally induced Alder-ene reaction between MA and olefins allowed to exclude this reaction from the scope of possible side processes at moderately high temperatures. Comparative analysis of MA and N-methylmaleimide (MMI) reactivity shown that the use of MMI instead of MA makes no sense in terms of the reaction rate and selectivity.

1 : 1 alternating and 1 : 2 sequence-controlled radical copolymerization of 1,3-pentadiene isomers with maleic anhydride/N-phenylalkyl maleimide

The competition between the Diels–Alder cycloaddition and the sequence-controlled radical copolymerization of maleic anhydride/N-phenylalkyl maleimide (MAH/NPMI) with 1,3-pentadiene (PD) isomers was investigated.

Multiply fully recyclable carbon fibre reinforced heat-resistant covalent thermosetting advanced composites

Nondestructive retrieval of expensive carbon fibres (CFs) from CF-reinforced thermosetting advanced composites widely applied in high-tech fields has remained inaccessible as the harsh conditions required to recycle high-performance resin matrices unavoidably damage the structure and properties of CFs. Degradable thermosetting resins with stable covalent structures offer a potential solution to this conflict. Here we design a new synthesis scheme and prepare a recyclable CF-reinforced poly(hexahydrotriazine) resin matrix advanced composite. The multiple recycling experiments and characterization data establish that this composite demonstrates performance comparable to those of its commercial counterparts, and more importantly, it realizes multiple intact recoveries of CFs and near-total recycling of the principal raw materials through gentle depolymerization in certain dilute acid solution. To our best knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time a feasible and environment-friendly preparation-recycle-regeneration strategy for multiple CF-recycling from CF-reinforced advanced composites.

The attractive strength and stability of resin matrix carbon fibre composites also make them difficult to recycle using gentle treatments which avoid degradation of structure and properties. Here authors demonstrate a composite that can be recycled for multiple cycles with little degradation.

Color change of alternating copolymers with phenyl vinylethylene carbonate and N-phenylmaleimide in a solution and in the solid-state, depending on their structure

The alternating PVEC and PMI copolymers with various composition ratios exhibited reversible color changes such as halochromism in solution and in the solid-state.

Synthesis of Copolymers by Living Carbanionic Alternating Copolymerization

The synthesis and characterization of copolymers from styrene and 1,3-pentadiene (two isomers) are reported. Styrene/1,3-pentadiene (1:1) copolymerization with carbanion initiator yield living, well-defined, alternating (r1 = 0.037, r2 = 0.056), and highly stereoregular copolymers with 90%-100% trans-1,4 units, designed Mn s and low ÐM s (1.07-1.17). The first-order kinetic resolution and NMR spectra demonstrate that the copolymers obtained possess strictly alternating structure containing both 1,4- and 4,1-enchaiments. Also a series of copolymers with varying degrees of alternation are synthesized from para-alkyl substituted styrene derivatives and 1,3-pentadiene. The degree of alternation is strongly dependent on the polarity of solvent, reaction temperature, type of trans-cis isomer of 1,3-pentadiene and para-substituted group in styrene. The macro zwitterion forms (SPC) through the distribution of electronic charges from the donor (1,3-pentadiene) to the acceptor (styrenes) are proposed to interpret the carbanion alternating copolymerization mechanism. Owing to the versatility of the carbanion-initiating reaction, the present alternating strategy based on 1,3-pentadiene (especially cis isomer) can serve as a powerful tool for precise control of polymer chain microstructure, architecture, and functionalities in one-pot polymerization.