Issue 25, 2019

Upcycling aromatic polymers through C–H fluoroalkylation

Abstract

The unique properties imparted by planar, rigid aromatic rings in synthetic polymers make these macromolecules useful in a range of applications, including disposable packaging, aerospace materials, flexible electronics, separation membranes, and engineering thermoplastics. The thermal and chemical stability of aromatic polymers, however, makes it difficult to alter their bulk and/or surface properties and results in challenges during recycling. In response, we report a platform approach for the C–H functionalization of aromatic polymers by taking advantage of their innate reactivity with electrophilic radical intermediates. The method uses mild reaction conditions to photocatalytically generate electrophilic fluoroalkyl radicals for the functionalization of an array of commercially relevant polyaromatic substrates, including post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste, without altering their otherwise attractive thermomechanical properties. The density of fluorination, and thus the material properties, is tuned by either increasing the reagent concentration or incorporating longer perfluoroalkyl species. Additionally, the installation of versatile chemical functionality to aromatic polymers is demonstrated through the addition of a bromodifluoromethyl group, which acts as an initiator for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) grafting of vinyl polymers. The method described herein imparts new and versatile chemical functionality to aromatic polymers, enabling an efficient approach to diversify the properties of these otherwise recalcitrant commodity plastics and demonstrating a viable pathway to upcycle post-consumer plastic waste.

Graphical abstract: Upcycling aromatic polymers through C–H fluoroalkylation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
22 mar 2019
Accepted
04 may 2019
First published
29 may 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 6270-6277

Upcycling aromatic polymers through C–H fluoroalkylation

S. E. Lewis, B. E. Wilhelmy and F. A. Leibfarth, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 6270 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC01425J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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