Chemically Recyclable Biobased Polyurethanes
Open accessAbstract
Polyurethanes (PUs), in the form of coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers, and foams, play a vital role in the consumer goods, automotive, and construction industries. However, the inevitable disposal of nondegradable postconsumer polyurethane products constitutes a massive waste management problem that has yet to be solved. We address this challenge through the synthesis of biobased and chemically recyclable polyurethanes. Our approach employs renewable and degradable hydroxy telechelic poly(β-methyl-δ-valerolactone) as a replacement for petroleum-derived polyols in the synthesis of both thermoplastic polyurethanes and flexible foams. These materials rival petroleum-derived PUs in performance and can also be easily recycled to recover β-methyl-δ-valerolactone monomer in high purity and high yield. This recycling strategy bypasses many of the technical challenges that currently preclude the practical chemical recycling of PUs.
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Based on this chemistry, they developed chemically recyclable thermoplastic polyurethanes and novel polyester elastomers.
“Based on this chemistry, they developed chemically recyclable thermoplastic polyurethanes 161 and novel polyester elastomers 162 .”
From Catalysis as an Enabling Science for Sustainable Polymers (2018) · cites this paper as [161]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Schneiderman, D. K., Vanderlaan, M. E., Mannion, A. M., Panthani, T. R., Batiste, D. C., Wang, J. Z., Bates, F. S., Macosko, C. W., & Hillmyer, M. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hillmyer, Marc A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- ACS Macro Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2016-04-05
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 515-518
- ISSN
- 2161-1653 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2332944436
- Cited by
- 213
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 6.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- ACS Macro Letters (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Division of Chemistry (CHE-1413862)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer composites and self-healing
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Keywords
- polyurethane, chemical recycling, bio-based polyurethane, thermoplastic polyurethane, flexible foam, monomer recovery, polyol replacement, biodegradable polymers
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