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POLYMER RECYCLING

Upcycling polystyrene with oxygen and light

Nature Synthesis volume 1, pages 508–509 (2022)Cite this article

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Scalable and efficient chemical recycling of commodity polymeric materials remains a challenge as the materials continually accumulate in the environment. Now, upcycling of polystyrene into benzoic acid and other value-added chemicals is realized under mild photooxidation conditions, with hydrogen atom transfer as the key step.

Polystyrene is one of the most widely used synthetic plastics in food packaging, electronics, construction materials and a wealth of other applications. Currently, the recycling rate of polystyrene is low and most of the waste finds its way to landfill sites or scattered in the environment1. To address the challenge of recycling commodity plastics, research has focused on chemical upcycling methods to convert the constituent polymers into value-added products2. More specifically, the repurposing of polystyrene is not straightforward because of the repeating carbon–carbon bonds in the polymer backbone. These traditionally inert bonds resist standard chemical treatments and give rise to the resilient material properties that have enabled their widespread utility.

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Fig. 1: Upcycling commercial polystyrene materials by photooxidation using flow techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Mizhi Xu & Will R. Gutekunst

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  1. Mizhi Xu
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  2. Will R. Gutekunst
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Correspondence to Will R. Gutekunst.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Xu, M., Gutekunst, W.R. Upcycling polystyrene with oxygen and light. Nat. Synth 1, 508–509 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00098-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00098-1

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