Hydrogen Atom Transfer-Triggered Chemical Recycling of Commercial Poly(methyl methacrylate) Utilizing Continuous Monomer Removal.
- 1Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania15213, United States.
- 2Department of Molecular Physics, Faculty of Chemistry, Łódź University of Technology, ŻeromskiegoStreet 114, Łódź90-543, Poland.
Abstract
We report a thermal hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) depolymerization strategy for the efficient chemical recycling of unmodified commercial poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). A reaction engineering approach combining controlled radical concentration with continuous monomer removal enables efficient depolymerization under practical conditions without light, chlorinated solvents, or high dilution. A semibatch protocol employing multiple small additions of cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) and continuous removal of methyl methacrylate (MMA) suppressed radical side reactions and shifted the equilibrium toward monomer formation. At a repeating-unit concentration of 1.83 M and a total CHP loading of 3 mol %, depolymerization reached 90% with only 2% monomer consumption. The method remained effective at 3.00 M, scaled to 20 g of polymer (79% depolymerization, 4.5 mol % CHP loading), and was effective for commercial Plexiglas containing stabilizing additives. Recovered MMA was successfully repolymerized, demonstrating its circularity. These results establish radical concentration control and continuous monomer removal as the key design principles for hydroperoxide-assisted thermal HAT depolymerization.
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BibTeX
@article{szewczyklagodzinska2026hydrogen,
title = {{Hydrogen Atom Transfer-Triggered Chemical Recycling of Commercial Poly(methyl methacrylate) Utilizing Continuous Monomer Removal.}},
author = {Matylda Szewczyk-Łagodzińska and Ferdinando De Luca Bossa and Yanzhe Fang and Jakub Józiewicz and Halil Ibrahim Coskun and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski},
journal = {ACS macro letters},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acsmacrolett.6c00454},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899735},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hydrogen Atom Transfer-Triggered Chemical Recycling of Commercial Poly(methyl methacrylate) Utilizing Continuous Monomer Removal.
AU - Matylda Szewczyk-Łagodzińska
AU - Ferdinando De Luca Bossa
AU - Yanzhe Fang
AU - Jakub Józiewicz
AU - Halil Ibrahim Coskun
AU - Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - ACS macro letters
DO - 10.1021/acsmacrolett.6c00454
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899735
AB - We report a thermal hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) depolymerization strategy for the efficient chemical recycling of unmodified commercial poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). A reaction engineering approach combining controlled radical concentration with continuous monomer removal enables efficient depolymerization under practical conditions without light, chlorinated solvents, or high dilution. A semibatch protocol employing multiple small additions of cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) and continuous removal of methyl methacrylate (MMA) suppressed radical side reactions and shifted the equilibrium toward monomer formation. At a repeating-unit concentration of 1.83 M and a total CHP loading of 3 mol %, depolymerization reached 90% with only 2% monomer consumption. The method remained effective at 3.00 M, scaled to 20 g of polymer (79% depolymerization, 4.5 mol % CHP loading), and was effective for commercial Plexiglas containing stabilizing additives. Recovered MMA was successfully repolymerized, demonstrating its circularity. These results establish radical concentration control and continuous monomer removal as the key design principles for hydroperoxide-assisted thermal HAT depolymerization.
SN - 2161-1653
ER -