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ARC-ME: Molecular Stability Engineering for Programmable Plastic Degradation A Conceptual Extension of GCST to Controlled Material Lifecycles
Summary
This paper is a duplicate entry of ID 388, presenting the same ARC-ME conceptual framework for designing plastics with programmable degradation pathways triggered by environmental signals such as light, pH, or enzymes. The proposal argues that treating plastic persistence as a stability engineering problem — rather than a disposal problem — opens new avenues for preventing microplastic accumulation. Both entries describe the same conceptual work.
Abstract Conventional plastics are designed for maximal chemical stability, resulting in persistence times of hundreds to thousands of years in natural environments. From the perspective of Global Complexity Stability Theory (GCST), this corresponds to a near-zero natural decay coefficient, creating a long-lived metastable state that accumulates as environmental debt. The ARC-ME framework proposes the opposite engineering paradigm: materials with deliberately embedded, triggerable instability pathways. Instead of passive longevity, the material lifecycle becomes programmable — stable during use, but capable of rapid, controlled degradation when externally activated. The approach reframes plastic pollution not as an inevitable waste-management problem, but as a stability-design challenge: create polymers whose structural integrity can be intentionally collapsed under safe, selective conditions (light, temperature, pH, enzymes, redox signals), converting persistent macromolecules into biodegradable fragments or mineralizable monomers. This conceptual shift integrates cleavable molecular units, designer enzymes, aggregation chemistry for microplastics, and GCST-derived stability thresholds to enable materials that actively participate in circular flows rather than resist them.