Lower-temperature bulk depolymerization of commercial polymethacrylates
- 1Laboratory of Sustainable Polymers, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2Institute for Molecular Physical Science, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 3Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract
Chemical recycling back to monomer represents an attractive methodology to tackle plastic waste. However, current reports focus on either thermally unstable ‘designer’ polymers or highly diluted solution depolymerizations. Here we report a simple, yet efficient, bulk main-chain scission pathway, whereby the presence of N-hydroxyphthalimides triggers a hydrogen-atom-transfer reaction on the polymer backbone, followed by the rapid and near-quantitative depolymerization of polymethacrylates. Notably, this strategy can be directly applied to crude commercial polymers, does not rely on preinstalled end-groups or sacrificial co-monomers, operates at relatively low temperatures in the absence of light irradiation and precludes the use of a solvent, therefore enabling direct isolation of pristine monomers in high yields (∼90%). The methodology is compatible with polymethacrylates synthesized by either anionic, free radical or controlled radical polymerization and can also be applied to ultrahigh-molecular-weight materials (>106 Da).
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BibTeX
@article{whitfield2026lowertemperature,
title = {{Lower-temperature bulk depolymerization of commercial polymethacrylates}},
author = {Richard Whitfield and Victoria Lohmann and Mikhail Agrachev and Hongsik Kim and Hyun Suk Wang and Nethmi De Alwis Watuthanthrige and Nghia P. Truong and Tae-Lim Choi and Gunnar Jeschke and Athina Anastasaki},
journal = {Nature Chemistry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Lower-temperature bulk depolymerization of commercial polymethacrylates
AU - Richard Whitfield
AU - Victoria Lohmann
AU - Mikhail Agrachev
AU - Hongsik Kim
AU - Hyun Suk Wang
AU - Nethmi De Alwis Watuthanthrige
AU - Nghia P. Truong
AU - Tae-Lim Choi
AU - Gunnar Jeschke
AU - Athina Anastasaki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
JO - Nature Chemistry
DO - 10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4
AB - Chemical recycling back to monomer represents an attractive methodology to tackle plastic waste. However, current reports focus on either thermally unstable ‘designer’ polymers or highly diluted solution depolymerizations. Here we report a simple, yet efficient, bulk main-chain scission pathway, whereby the presence of N-hydroxyphthalimides triggers a hydrogen-atom-transfer reaction on the polymer backbone, followed by the rapid and near-quantitative depolymerization of polymethacrylates. Notably, this strategy can be directly applied to crude commercial polymers, does not rely on preinstalled end-groups or sacrificial co-monomers, operates at relatively low temperatures in the absence of light irradiation and precludes the use of a solvent, therefore enabling direct isolation of pristine monomers in high yields (∼90%). The methodology is compatible with polymethacrylates synthesized by either anionic, free radical or controlled radical polymerization and can also be applied to ultrahigh-molecular-weight materials (>106 Da).
SN - 1755-4330
SN - 1755-4349
ER -