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Tunable Conversion of Poly(Acrylic Acid) to Vinyl Methyl Ether Copolymers via Electrochemical Decarboxylation
Summary
An electrochemical decarboxylation method converts poly(acrylic acid) — a common plastic found in disposable hygiene products — into tunable vinyl methyl ether copolymers with up to 62 mol% conversion, enabling plastics-to-plastics upcycling without deconstruction intermediates. This approach advances chemical recycling strategies that could reduce the volume of non-biodegradable polymer waste entering the environment as microplastic precursors.
Recognizing the potential of polymer-to-polymer transformations for plastics valorization, a new electrochemical strategy for the decarboxylative functionalization of polyacrylates has been developed.In contrast to most electrochemical approaches to plastic waste valorization that use small-molecule mediators or only form deconstruction products, this report describes one of the first direct electrochemical redox upconversions of a commodity polymer and involves activation of poly(acrylic acid), a material commonly found in disposable diapers and other personal hygiene products.Via electrochemical decarboxylation, poly(acrylic acid) is converted to methyl ethercontaining copolymers.Although methods to prepare the 1:1 regularly alternating poly(vinyl methyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) are known, routes to generate copolymers with variable levels of vinyl methyl ether and acrylate moieties are unknown, but such polymers may have utility in similar applications, such as dentifrices.Tunable conversions with up to 62 mol% vinyl methyl ether content were achieved via controlled-current electrolyses at >100 mA.This approach enables efficient access to copolymers with broad range of comonomer content from a common waste polymer starting material.