Abstract
Simple, highly active, Zn(ii) and Mg(ii) complexes for the industrial ring opening polymerisation (ROP) of lactide.
Highlights
The production of bioplastics is currently a hot topic in light of the environmental burden associated with petrochemically derived materials
High activity is achieved in the majority of cases including low catalytic loading and high temperatures, under industrially relevant conditions (180 °C 10 000 : 1 : 100 [LA] : [Zn] : [BnOH]), with high conversion achieved within 10 minutes and TOFs in excess of 100 000 h−1 achieved
All ligands were prepared via a simple condensation to afford the respective Schiff base, which were characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry
Summary
The production of bioplastics is currently a hot topic in light of the environmental burden associated with petrochemically derived materials. These complexes were trialed for the ring opening polymerisation (ROP) of lactide under industrially relevant conditions. There is a gap in the literature for simple complexes that are able to polymerise lactide approaching industrial conditions with temperature around 180 °C with Mn being controlled by BnOH.
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