Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate

Yue-Yuan Qian; Xiang-Bin Sun; Ya-Lei Liu; Zhi-Bo Li

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3

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Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-20

- Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-9(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Shandong Key Laboratory of High Performance Polyolefin Materials and Recycling; College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
  b.College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang 277160, China
  c.State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-carbon Technology, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Author bio：
  
  sunxiangbinld@163.com (X.B.S.)
  zbli@qust.edu.cn, zbli@zju.edu.cn (Z.B.L.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3
  CLC：
- Received：23 March 2026，
  
  Revised：2026-04-15，
  
  Accepted：21 April 2026，
  
  Online First：20 July 2026，
  
  Published：2026-06
- Accepted：
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Qian, Y. Y.; Sun, X. B.; Liu, Y. L.; Li, Z. B. Development of rapid environment degradable and recyclable poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via ring-opening polymerization of seven-membered cyclic oxalate. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3

Yue-Yuan Qian, Xiang-Bin Sun, Ya-Lei Liu, et al. Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-9. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3.
Qian, Y. Y.; Sun, X. B.; Liu, Y. L.; Li, Z. B. Development of rapid environment degradable and recyclable poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via ring-opening polymerization of seven-membered cyclic oxalate. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3 DOI：

Yue-Yuan Qian, Xiang-Bin Sun, Ya-Lei Liu, et al. Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-9. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

As plastic pollution has become increasingly severe

the development of recyclable and rapidly degradable polyesters has significant practical value and significance. In this study

seven-membered cyclic 1

3-propylene glycol oxalate (POx) was successfully synthesized through a two-step polycondensation-depolymerization method using dimethyl oxalate (a low-cost and readily accessible bulk chemical) and bio-based 1

3-propylene glycol as the starting materials. Using Sn(Oct)

as the catalyst

high-molecular-weight poly(1

3-propylene oxalate) (PPOx) was effic

iently prepared

via

ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of POx. This ROP demonstrated excellent reactivity

attaining a monomer conversion up to 95% within 10 min

and PPOx had a maximum intrinsic viscosity (

) of 1.06 dL/g. Furthermore

the prepared PPOx could be catalytically depolymerized to enable efficient recovery of the POx monomer

with a yield of 60% and a purity of 98%. The degradation performance tests indicated that PPOx exhibited rapid degradation

reaching a degradation rate of up to 99% within 50 days. Owing to the innovative selection of raw materials and the design of a closed-loop process

this study provides a new economical and sustainable strategy for reducing dependence on petroleum resources

offering valuable insights into the development of recyclable and rapidly degradable polyesters.

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Development of Rapid Environment Degradable and Recyclable Poly(1,3-propylene glycol oxalate) via Ring-opening Polymerization of Seven-Membered Cyclic Oxalate

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3725-3

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references