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Recyclable polymers based on hybrid bicyclic lactones prepared by selective sp3 C-H activation

Project description

Hybrid bicyclic lactone-based fully recyclable plastics

As the need for sustainable resource management becomes more urgent, the environmental impact of plastics is coming under scrutiny. While plastics provide benefits, managing them at the end of their life cycle is a challenge. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the RePolHyCA project aims to develop high-performance, fully recyclable plastics. The research will focus on aliphatic polyesters derived from bicyclic hybrid lactone monomers, which can be completely depolymerised, paving the way for a truly circular economy. Using streamlined synthetic techniques, it will produce a range of hybrid lactone monomers to overcome limitations in production. These will be transformed into polyesters, whose properties and recyclability will be carefully analysed. This work will contribute to a growing database.

Objective

"As the world increasingly recognizes the urgency of sustainable resource management, the role of plastics has come under intense scrutiny. While commercial plastics offer essential benefits to modern society, their inherent drawbacks in end-of-life management have caused severe and long-lasting environmental damage. The REPOLHYCA project seeks to contribute to the crucial effort of developing next-generation plastics that combine high performance with full recyclability, aligning with the Plastics Strategy of the European Green Deal. The project will focus on aliphatic polyesters derived from bicyclic ""hybrid"" γ-butyrolactone monomers, which hold significant potential as useful and fully recyclable materials, capable of complete depolymerization back to their monomers, thus enabling a truly circular plastic economy. However, these materials’ performance and production costs are still unsatisfactory for commercial viability, mainly due to the complex and inefficient multistep processes required to access the monomers. The REPOLHYCA project aims to overcome these limitations by leveraging the expertise of Supervisor (Prof. Miquel Costas) in selective C-H functionalization and Fellow (Dr. Francesco Zaccaria) in catalytic polymerization. The project will develop an unprecedented library of structurally diverse hybrid lactone monomers using streamlined synthetic methodologies developed by the Supervisor’s group, enabling selective one-step γ-lactonization of abundant substrates (carboxylic acids) with earth-abundant metal catalysts (Mn) and environmentally friendly oxidants (hydrogen peroxide) under mild conditions. The Fellow’s expertise will then be applied to convert these new monomers into polyesters and assess their material properties and recyclability. The resulting structure-properties database will prove essential for identifying and designing advanced, sustainable polymers."

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 209 914,56
Address
PLACA SANT DOMENEC 3
17004 GIRONA
Spain

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Region
Este Cataluña Girona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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