Enzymatic recycling of polymacrolactones

The use of renewable monomers to make new polyesters which could replace the ones obtained from petrochemical resources employing green processes is attracting a lot of attention these days. With this in mind, three different macrolactones, ¿-pentadecalactone, globalide and 6-hexadecenlactone, have...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymer Chemistry
Main Authors: Martínez Cutillas, Alfredo, León Cabanillas, Salvador, Oh, Sejin, Martínez de Ilarduya Sáez de Asteasu, Domingo Antxon
Other Authors: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. POL - Polímers Industrials Avançats i Biopolímers Tecnològics
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química
Polymers
Polymacrolactones
Enzymatic recycling
Aliphatic polyesters
Ring opening polymerization
Circular economy
CALB
Novozym 435
N435
Polímers
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2117/368587
https://doi.org/10.1039/D1PY01721G
Description
Summary:The use of renewable monomers to make new polyesters which could replace the ones obtained from petrochemical resources employing green processes is attracting a lot of attention these days. With this in mind, three different macrolactones, ¿-pentadecalactone, globalide and 6-hexadecenlactone, have been polymerized in bulk by enzymatic ring opening polymerization (e-ROP) using immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B to give their corresponding polymacrolactones (PMLs). For the first time, these PMLs have been depolymerized enzymatically in solution with the concourse of the same enzyme and at mild temperatures. GPC, NMR and ESI MS demonstrated that the main products recovered after the enzymatic processive recycling were cyclic monomers and dimers, with a small amount of higher size macrocyclic oligoesters (MCOs). It was observed that these depolymerizations followed a Michaelis–Menten kinetic model. Finally it was shown that these MCOs could be repolymerized. This research provides a biosynthetic method for chemical recycling of these interesting polymeric materials providing a pathway towards a circular economy. Peer Reviewed Postprint (author's final draft)

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