Photodegradable polar-functionalized polyethylenes.
Natl Sci Rev
; 10(7): nwad039, 2023 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37600561
ABSTRACT
The degradation of plastics has attracted much attention from the global community. Polyethylenes (PEs), as the most abundant synthetic plastics, are most frequently studied. PE is non-degradable and non-polar because of the sole presence of the pure hydrocarbon components. Concurrent incorporation of both in-chain cleavable and functional groups into the PE chain is an effective pathway to overcome the non-degradable and non-polar issue; however, the method for achieving this pathway remains elusive. Here, we report a strictly non-alternating (>99%) terpolymerization of ethylene with CO and fundamental polar monomers via a coordination-insertion mechanism using late transition metal catalysts, which effectively prevents the formation of undesired chelates originating from both co-monomers under a low CO concentration. High-molecular-weight linear PEs with both in-chain isolated keto (>99%) and main-chain functional groups are prepared. The incorporation of key low-content isolated keto groups makes PEs photodegradable while retaining their desirable bulk material properties, and the introduction of polar functional groups considerably improves their surface properties.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Natl Sci Rev
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China