Stella Afroditi Mountaki, Richard Whitfield, Kostas Parkatzidis, Nghia P Truong, Athina Anastasaki
The chemical recycling of lignin-derived polymers synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is demonstrated, yielding depolymerization efficiencies up to 99%. Key to this work is the complete elimination of lactonization, a deleterious side reaction that has previously been shown to limit the depolymerization yield of petroleum-based analogues.