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ABSTRACT Carbon dioxide is inexpensive and abundant, and its prevalence as waste makes it attractive as a sustainable chemical feedstock. Although there are examples of copolymerizations of
CO2 with high-energy monomers, the direct copolymerization of CO2 with olefins has not been reported. Here an alternative route to functionalizable, recyclable polyesters derived from CO2,
butadiene and hydrogen via an intermediary lactone, 3-ethyl-6-vinyltetrahydro-2_H_-pyran-2-one, is described. Catalytic ring-opening polymerization of the lactone by
1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene yields polyesters with molar masses up to 13.6 kg mol−1 and pendent vinyl side chains that can undergo post-polymerization functionalization. The polymer
has a low ceiling temperature of 138 °C, allowing for facile chemical recycling, and is inherently biodegradable under aerobic aqueous conditions (OECD-301B protocol). These results show
that a well-defined polyester can be derived from CO2, olefins and hydrogen, expanding access to new polymer feedstocks that were once considered unfeasible. Access through your institution
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ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS DIRECT SYNTHESIS OF
EXTRA-HEAVY OLEFINS FROM CARBON MONOXIDE AND WATER Article Open access 03 April 2023 OVERCOMING THE LOW REACTIVITY OF BIOBASED, SECONDARY DIOLS IN POLYESTER SYNTHESIS Article Open access 30
November 2022 BIFUNCTIONAL AND RECYCLABLE POLYESTERS BY CHEMOSELECTIVE RING-OPENING POLYMERIZATION OF A Δ-LACTONE DERIVED FROM CO2 AND BUTADIENE Article Open access 08 October 2024 DATA
AVAILABILITY All primary data files63 are available free of charge from the Data Repository for the University of Minnesota at https://doi.org/10.13020/sy3d-cf59. REFERENCES * Omae, I.
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Rapagnani, R. M., Dunscomb, R. J., Fresh, A. A. & Tonks, I. A. Supporting data for tunable and recyclable polyesters from CO2 and butadiene (Data Repository for the University of
Minnesota, 2021); https://doi.org/10.13020/sy3d-cf59 Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The funding for this work was provided by the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers (no. CHE-1901635
to I.A.T.) at the University of Minnesota. Instrumentation for the University of Minnesota Chemistry NMR facility was supported by a grant through the National Institutes of Health (no.
S10OD011952). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA Rachel M. Rapagnani, Rachel J. Dunscomb &
Ian A. Tonks * Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA Alexandra A. Fresh Authors * Rachel M. Rapagnani View author publications You can also search for this
author inPubMed Google Scholar * Rachel J. Dunscomb View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alexandra A. Fresh View author publications You can
also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ian A. Tonks View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS R.M.R., R.J.D. and
A.A.F. designed and performed all experiments and carried out data analysis. I.A.T. directed the research. R.M.R. and I.A.T. prepared the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to
Ian A. Tonks. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS I.A.T. and R.M.R. are co-inventors on a provisional US patent covering the methods of polymerization and composition of matter presented
in this work, filed through the University of Minnesota (application no. 63/156,135). R.J.D. and A.A.F. declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature
Chemistry_ thanks James Eagan, Xufeng Ni and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature
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Supplementary text, Figs. 1 to 35, Tables 1 to 5, references, OECD-301B report from Situ Biosciences RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE
Rapagnani, R.M., Dunscomb, R.J., Fresh, A.A. _et al._ Tunable and recyclable polyesters from CO2 and butadiene. _Nat. Chem._ 14, 877–883 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022-00969-2
Download citation * Received: 18 November 2021 * Accepted: 09 May 2022 * Published: 27 June 2022 * Issue Date: August 2022 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022-00969-2 SHARE THIS
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