Organocatalytic Ring-Opening Polymerization and Depolymerization

Dear Colleagues, 

Over the last two decades, organocatalysts for ring-opening polymerization (ROP) have has undergone a renaissance in the synthesis community because of their ability to form precision macromolecules. While tremendous scientific and industrial advances have been achieved in organometallic catalysts for ROP reactions, organocatalysts complement transition-metal catalysts because of their different mechanisms for effecting bond constructions, as well as benefits that derive from the lack of residual metal contaminants that can compromise the polymer performance in extremely pure applications. In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight the important advances in organocatalytic polymerizations of lactones such as lactide, b-butyrolactone, d-valerolactone, and e -caprolactone; as well as other strained cyclic monomers, such as epoxides, morpholine-2,6-dione, trimethylene carbonate, 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-1-oxa-2,5-disilacyclopentane;in addition to hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane reactions and the utility of organocatalytic methods for the synthesis of complex polymer architectures. As a means of economic and environmental incentives to promote plastic waste treatment, chemical degradation has emerged as a long-term strategy towards reaching completely sustainable cycles where plastics are polymerized, depolymerized, and then re-polymerized with minimal changes in their quantity or final properties. Organocatalysts will play an important role as promising “green” substitutes for traditional organometallic complexes catalyzing depolymerization reactions yielding highly pure small molecules that are adequate for subsequent polymerizations or other uses. In this respect, the contribution of organocatalysts like organic base, organic acid, and ionic compound catalysts to the field of chemical recycling is also highlighted.

Prof. Dr. IL Kim
Guest Editor

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• cyclic monomers
• copolymerization
• depolymerization
• epoxides
• lactones
• organocatalyst
• polyester
• ring opening polymerization