| Title |
Selective Lanthanide-Organic Catalyzed Depolymerization of Nylon-6 to ε-Caprolactam |
| ID_Doc |
17524 |
| Authors |
Wursthorn, L; Beckett, K; Rothbaum, JO; Cywar, RM; Lincoln, C; Kratish, Y; Marks, TJ |
| Title |
Selective Lanthanide-Organic Catalyzed Depolymerization of Nylon-6 to ε-Caprolactam |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 62, 4 |
| Abstract |
Nylon-6 is selectively depolymerized to the parent monomer epsilon-caprolactam by the readily accessible and commercially available lanthanide trisamido catalysts Ln(N(TMS)(2))(3) (Ln=lanthanide). The depolymerization process is solvent-free, near quantitative, highly selective, and operates at the lowest Nylon-6 to epsilon-caprolactam depolymerization temperature reported to date. The catalytic activity of the different lanthanide trisamides scales with the Ln(3+) ionic radius, and this process is effective with post-consumer Nylon-6 as well as with Nylon-6+polyethylene, polypropylene or polyethylene terephthalate mixtures. Experimental kinetic data and theoretical (DFT) mechanistic analyses suggest initial deprotonation of a Nylon terminal amido N-H bond, which covalently binds the catalyst to the polymer, followed by a chain-end back-biting process in which epsilon-caprolactam units are sequentially extruded from the chain end. |
| PDF |
https://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1002/anie.202212543
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