title: Towards Truly Sustainable Polymers: A Metal-Free Recyclable Polyester from Biorenewable Non-Strained γ-Butyrolactone.
abstract: The first effective organopolymerization of the biorenewable "non-polymerizable" γ-butyrolactone (γ-BL) to a high-molecular-weight metal-free recyclable polyester is reported. The superbase tert-Bu-P4 is found to directly initiate this polymerization through deprotonation of γ-BL to generate reactive enolate species. When combined with a suitable alcohol, the tert-Bu-P4 -based system rapidly converts γ-BL into polyesters with high monomer conversions (up to 90 %), high molecular weights (Mn up to 26.7 kg mol(-1) ), and complete recyclability (quantitative γ-BL recovery).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1872, USA.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1872, USA. Eugene.Chen@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Eugene Y-X
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: organopolymerization; polyesters; recyclability; superbases; sustainable polymers