Chemical Upcycling of PET into a Morpholine Amide as a Versatile Synthetic Building Block

Yohei Ogiwara; Kotohiro Nomura

doi:10.1021/acsorginorgau.3c00037

Chemical Upcycling of PET into a Morpholine Amide as a Versatile Synthetic Building Block

ACS Org Inorg Au. 2023 Aug 28;3(6):377-383. doi: 10.1021/acsorginorgau.3c00037. eCollection 2023 Dec 6.

Authors

Yohei Ogiwara¹, Kotohiro Nomura¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 minami-Osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.

Abstract

A catalytic chemical upcycling methodology for polyesters has been developed. Commodity polyesters, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are depolymerized with morpholine by using a Cp*TiCl₃ catalyst under ambient pressure without any additives, which provides morpholine amides exclusively. The method can also apply to other polyesters, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene adipate (PEA), polybutylene adipate (PBA), and polybutylene succinate (PBS), as well as an actual PET waste of a 50 g postconsumer beverage bottle. The product, morpholine amide, is a versatile building block in organic chemistry, and the synthetic utility has thus been demonstrated by further transformations, such as hydrolysis, selective reductive conversions, and Grignard reaction.