Catalyst-Free Approach for the Degradation of Bio- and CO2-Sourced Polycarbonates: A Step toward a Circular Plastic Economy

Designing easily degradable polymers has become a new challenge to overcome the post-consumer plastic waste accumulation in the environment. Polycarbonates are important polymers that can be chemically recycled; however, most often, their degradation requires high temperatures and/or the use of catalysts. In this work, we report the facile chemical recycling of regioregular polycarbonates prepared by the organocatalyzed copolymerization of CO2-sourced exovinylene biscyclic carbonates (BisαCC) with diols derived from biomass. These polymers, thanks to their pending ketone groups, are rapidly (