Jun-Jie Tian, Xiaoyang Liu, Liwei Ye, Zhen Zhang, Ethan C Quinn, Changxia Shi, Linda J Broadbelt, Tobin J Marks, Eugene Y-X Chen
Geminal (gem-) disubstitution in heterocyclic monomers is an effective strategy to enhance polymer chemical recyclability by lowering their ceiling temperatures. However, the effects of specific substitution patterns on the monomer's reactivity and the resulting polymer's properties are largely unexplored. Here we show that, by systematically installing gem-dimethyl groups onto ɛ-caprolactam (monomer of nylon 6) from the α to ε positions, both the redesigned lactam monomer's reactivity and the resulting gem-nylon 6's properties are highly sensitive to the substitution position, with the monomers ranging from non-polymerizable to polymerizable and the gem-nylon properties ranging from inferior to far superior to the parent nylon 6...
February 28, 2024: Angewandte Chemie