Concise Report
Tailoring the Properties of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Plastics to Elastomers via Stereoselective Copolymerizations of rac-β-Butyrolactone and β-Propiolactone
Haoran Zhang,
Jiaojiao Qin,
Xiaoyan Tang,
Haoran Zhang
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
Search for more papers by this authorJiaojiao Qin
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xiaoyan Tang
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
*E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorHaoran Zhang,
Jiaojiao Qin,
Xiaoyan Tang,
Haoran Zhang
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
Search for more papers by this authorJiaojiao Qin
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xiaoyan Tang
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
*E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorComprehensive Summary
Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), a crucial member of the large biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate family, suffers from its brittleness. To enhance its performance, we employed a straightforward approach involving the ring-opening copolymerization of racemic-β-butyrolactone (rac-β-BL) and β-propiolactone (β-PL) using the syndio-selective amino-alkoxy-bis(phenolate)-yttrium complex as a catalyst, thanks to the excellent ductility of poly(3-hydroxypropionate). Control over the rac-β-BL/β-PL feeding ratios and polymerization time yielded random or block copolymers with tunable thermal and mechanical properties comparable to traditional fossil-based plastics. Furthermore, we achieved one-pot synthesis of hard-soft-hard triblock copolymers by exploiting monomers’ different copolymerization rates and a bifunctional initiator, thus transforming polyhydroxyalkanoates from hard and tough plastics to soft and ductile thermoplastic elastomers.
Supporting Information
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Appendix S1: Supporting Information |
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