This presentation is an extension of the easy-to-recycle vinyl-based plastic technology previously reported by Associate Professor Kosaka et al.Vinyl-based plastics, which account for 7% of the total plastic production volume, are stable and difficult to decompose.However, since we discovered a new molecular structure that facilitates the cleavage of the carbon-carbon bond that is the main skeleton of vinyl-based plastics, in 2019 we synthesized vinyl-based plastics that can be highly efficiently chemically recycled using aspirin as a raw material. succeeded in.

　In this announcement, first of all, we realized a high-speed decomposition technology for vinyl-based plastics, which will support the practical application of the report in 2019.Conventionally, heating for several days was required, but it was found that vinyl-based plastic completely decomposes within 5 minutes under strongly alkaline conditions.

　Furthermore, we succeeded in synthesizing polyester, a plastic containing oxygen in the main skeleton, from aspirin.This polyester is also quickly decomposed by strong alkali treatment, and the raw material (acetic acid + salicylic acid, which are the raw materials of aspirin) can be regenerated.We also found that various plastics with different compositions can be induced by adjusting the reaction temperature.

　In this way, this result makes it possible to produce multiple types of plastics from the common raw material of aspirin, and in addition, to achieve efficient resource recycling by rapidly decomposing these plastics into common raw materials.It is expected to be put into practical use in the future as an ideal resource recycling system that will lead to the elimination of fossil resources and the reduction of plastic waste.

Paper information:[Polymer Chemistry] Diverse chemically recyclable polymers obtained by cationic vinyl and ring-opening polymerizations of the cyclic ketene acetal ester “dehydroaspirin”