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SUMMARY:Understanding the Role of Chemistry in the Monomer-to-Monomer Recy
 cling of Circular Polymers - Dr. Alex Epstein\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20240219T143000Z
DTEND:20240219T150000Z
UID:TALK212293@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Philipp Pracht
DESCRIPTION:Monomer-to-monomer recycling is a promising solution to the gl
 obal plastic pollution crisis but is not feasible for most conventional pl
 astics due to the difficulty of selectively cleaving the carbon-carbon bac
 kbone. One solution is to design polymers to incorporate bonds that can be
  selectively broken in specific chemical processes. This work demonstrates
  how computational tools can be used to develop mechanistic insights into 
 how bond chemistry enables monomer-to-monomer recycling. Specifically\, we
  used both classical and quantum methods to simulate the acid-catalyzed hy
 drolysis mechanism that enables recycling of a new polymer platform\, poly
 (dikeotenamine)s (PDKs)\, which have been shown to display chemical circul
 arity with >90% monomer yield. We find that the depolymerization rate of P
 DKs can be controlled through heteroatom and functional group substitution
 s on the monomer and crosslinker. This variance in depolymerization rate a
 rises from unique mechanisms depending on the type and location of the che
 mical substitutions\, and thus necessitates a range of computational appro
 aches. By understanding how chemical bonding affects PDK recycling\, we de
 sign the chemistry of PDKs to target specific properties while retaining r
 ecyclability. We discuss several cases in which computational and experime
 ntal design worked in close collaboration to develop diverse PDK formulati
 ons.
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry
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