Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is selectively depolymerized by a carbon-supported single-site molybdenum-dioxo catalyst to terephthalic acid (PTA) and ethylene. The solventless reactions are most efficient under 1 atmosphere of H2. The catalyst exhibits high stability and can be recycled multiple times without loss of activity. Waste beverage bottle PET or a PET + polypropylene (PP) mixture (simulating the bottle + cap) proceeds at 260 °C with complete PET deconstruction and quantitative PTA isolation. Mechanistic studies with a model diester, 1,2-ethanediol dibenzoate, suggest the reaction proceeds by initial retro-hydroalkoxylation/β-C−O scission and subsequent hydrogenolysis of the vinyl benzoate intermediate.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 19857-19861 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Angewandte Chemie - International Edition |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue number | 45 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2 2020 |
Funding
Financial support from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Department of Energy (DE-FG02-03ER15457) to the Institute for Catalysis in Energy Processes (ICEP) at Northwestern University (Y.K., J.L.) is gratefully acknowledged. Purchase of the NMR instrumentation at IMSERC was supported by NSF (CHE-1048773). We thank Katia Kratish for expert graphics design. Financial support from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Department of Energy (DE‐FG02‐03ER15457) to the Institute for Catalysis in Energy Processes (ICEP) at Northwestern University (Y.K., J.L.) is gratefully acknowledged. Purchase of the NMR instrumentation at IMSERC was supported by NSF (CHE‐1048773). We thank Katia Kratish for expert graphics design.
Keywords
- heterogenous catalysis
- hydrogenolysis
- molybdenum
- polymers
- reaction mechanisms
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Catalysis
- General Chemistry