A new strategy for sustainable polymer recycling using an enzyme: Poly(ε-caprolactone)

Shuichi Matsumura, Hiroki Ebata, Kazunobu Toshima

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Enzymatic degradation and polymerization using an enzyme were analyzed with respect to the establishment of a sustainable chemical recycling system for poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) which is a typical biodegradable synthetic plastic. As the typical example, the enzymatic degradation of PCL having an M̄n of 110 000 using lipase CA in toluene containing water at 70°C for 6 h afforded a unimodal oligomer having an M̄n of about 1 000 quantitatively consisting of linear and cyclic oligomers. This was again polymerized by lipase CA in toluene under restricted water concentration to produce PCL having an M̄n of greater than 70 000.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)860-863
Number of pages4
JournalMacromolecular Rapid Communications
Volume21
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2000 Aug 18

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Organic Chemistry
  • Polymers and Plastics
  • Materials Chemistry

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