Efficient synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate by chemical method

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are intracellular polyesters synthesized by many microorganisms that have developed rapidly in the past 20 years.

Compared with the traditional biofermentative synthesis of PHAs, the carbonylation polymerization of epoxides catalyzed by metal complexes is an effective strategy for the preparation of polyhydroxyalkanoate coatings online coatingol.

Figure 1.

In the study of Liu Ye's group at Dalian University of Technology, monometallic, bimetallic and trimetallic complexes were developed for this catalytic polymerization

Figure 2.

In situ FT-IR spectroscopy showed that the reaction proceeded through a dual catalytic strategy: one is the rapid (< 1h) carbonylation of epoxides to form lactone intermediates; the other is the ring-opening polymerization of lactones to form polyesters

Figure 3.

The above research results were published in Angew.

Source: Frontiers in Polymer Science