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7945574 
Journal Article 
Hydrolysis of aromatic polyurethane in water under high pressure of CO2 
Motokucho, S; Yamaguchi, A; Nakayama, Yu; Morikawa, H; Nakatani, H 
2017 
Yes 
Journal of Polymer Science. Part A, Polymer Chemistry
ISSN: 0887-624X
EISSN: 1099-0518 
55 
12 
2004-2010 
English 
WOS:000400639600005 
We have demonstrated a hydrolysis reaction of polyurethane (PU) under high pressure of carbon dioxide (CO2) in water. We employed the PU sample, poly(methylene bis-(1,4-phenylene)hexamethylene dicarbamate), denoted as M-PU, which was synthesized from 4,4′-diphenyl methane diisocyanate and 1,4-butane diol (BD). The optimum hydrolysis reaction condition was 190 °C under CO2 pressures over 4.1 MPa in water medium, and 93% hydrolysis of M-PU was achieved. After the reaction, the water-soluble parts were obtained, and isolated by column chromatography. The isolated products were 4,4′-methylenedianiline (MDA) and 1,4-butane diol (BD), which were components of repeating unit of M-PU. In addition, the hydrolysis reaction gave no byproduct. This hydrolysis under high pressure of CO2 with water is a reaction by which M-PU is selectively hydrolyzed into MDA and BD by cleaving urethane linkage. Moreover, the resulting hydrolyzed products were easily obtained by evaporation of aqueous layer after the reaction, indicating an efficient chemical recycling of PU was achieved. 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 2004–2010. 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 
carbon dioxide; carbonic acid; degradation; polyurethanes; recycling