"Designing Sustainability: Synthesis and Application of Degradable Copolymers"

K. R. Albanese^a, P. T. Morris^a, C.M. Bates^a and C.J. Hawker^a

^aMaterials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106

The development of plastics has yielded an outsized impact across polymer science and beyond, but a major limitation of their synthesis relates to the use of traditional vinyl monomers that form backbones composed entirely of carbon–carbon bonds. As a result, vinyl polymers are difficult to degrade and create issues associated with long-lived plastic and rubber waste in the environment. This poster will outline the synthesis and characterization of degradable vinyl polymers with an emphasis on applications and synthetic accessibility.

A contemporary challenge facing most applications of polymers relates to sustainability and scalability. The key building block in my research is α-lipoic acid, a natural, biocompatible, and commercially available antioxidant found in various consumer supplements. α-Lipoic acid features a saturated 1,2-dithiolane ring that undergoes radical ring-opening polymerization in the presence of UV light, heat, or radical initiators, resulting in dynamic and degradable disulfide bonds. Here, we will present different synthetic approaches using α-lipoic acid and related dithiolanes to transform otherwise persistent plastics into degradable and recyclable materials.