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Green carboxylation could convert biomass to plastic

Inspired by how plants transform carbon dioxide to carbohydrates in photosynthesis, researchers have developed an environmentally friendly reaction that adds the greenhouse gas to organic compounds, including biomass-derived molecules. Last week at the American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego, they described how they used the carboxylation reaction to synthesize a monomer that could help make a substitute for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the soda-bottle polymer that is one of the world’s largest-volume plastics. They think the chemistry could open a new route for converting biomass into polymeric materials and fuels. CO2 reacting with carbanions and other nucleophilic carbon centers to form carboxylates isn’t a new concept. But generating nucleophiles generally requires reagents such as highly reducing metals or strong organic bases that are energy-intensive to make and difficult to recycle. “These requirements negate the environmental benefit of using CO2 as a substrate and limit the ...