Chen Min, Si Guifu, Zhang Wen-Jian, Chen Changle
Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui, 230601, China.
State Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2025 Aug 18;64(34):e202507257. doi: 10.1002/anie.202507257. Epub 2025 Jun 30.
Plastic disposal has become a serious environmental and social problem. Mechanical recycling of waste plastics is the most widely adopted strategy to address this issue, but if used to recycle mixed plastics, it usually requires the addition of amphiphilic block copolymers. Polyolefins account for almost half of all synthetic plastics, making them ubiquitous in the plastic waste stream. Within this perspective, polyolefin-based multiblock copolymers are highly desirable, but they are difficult to access using traditional strategies. In this contribution, a cascade ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization strategy was developed to prepare various polyolefin-based multiblock copolymers with tunable polar segments and microstructures. Using this strategy, tunable amounts of the trithiocarbonate RAFT agents were installed in the polyolefin main chain via ROMP. Subsequent chain extension of various polar vinyl monomers via controlled RAFT polymerization formed various polyolefin-based multiblock copolymers with high molecular weight and good physical properties. These multiblock copolymers were used to compatibilize and upcycle mixtures of high-density polyethylene/polymethyl methacrylate (HDPE/PMMA) and high-density polyethylene/polyethylene terephthalate (HDPE/PET).
塑料处理已成为一个严重的环境和社会问题。废塑料的机械回收是解决这一问题最广泛采用的策略，但如果用于回收混合塑料，通常需要添加两亲性嵌段共聚物。聚烯烃几乎占所有合成塑料的一半，这使得它们在塑料废物流中无处不在。从这个角度来看，基于聚烯烃的多嵌段共聚物是非常理想的，但使用传统策略很难获得。在本研究中，开发了一种串联开环易位聚合（ROMP）和可逆加成-断裂链转移（RAFT）聚合策略，以制备具有可调极性段和微观结构的各种基于聚烯烃的多嵌段共聚物。使用该策略，通过ROMP将可调量的三硫代碳酸酯RAFT试剂安装在聚烯烃主链中。随后，通过可控的RAFT聚合对各种极性乙烯基单体进行链增长，形成了具有高分子量和良好物理性能的各种基于聚烯烃的多嵌段共聚物。这些多嵌段共聚物用于使高密度聚乙烯/聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（HDPE/PMMA）和高密度聚乙烯/聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（HDPE/PET）的混合物增容并升级回收利用。
