近日，美国科罗拉多州立大学Eugene Y.-X. Chen团队实现了烷叉官能化制备出高度可回收且可规模化的聚羟基烷酸酯。该项研究成果发表在2026年5月7日出版的《科学》杂志上。

能够大规模生产、并在同一聚合物骨架内容易调控特定性能的可回收聚合物，对于实现循环材料经济至关重要。为此，合成聚(3-羟基烷酸酯)（PHA）作为生物基PHA的高性能、化学可回收变体应运而生，但其单体合成困难以及回收效率欠佳给大规模应用带来了挑战。

研究组探索了一种β-异亚丙基PHA（i-PHA），其内酯单体可利用现有工业方法从生物质来源的异丁酸合成。该烷叉取代基阻止了PHA解聚过程中常见的脱羧降解，从而实现了近乎定量的化学回收至单体。通过控制β-异亚丙基侧基的加氢反应，可制备出具有不同性能指标的PHA，这些材料能与多种商品化聚合物相竞争，涵盖高强纤维、韧性热塑性塑料，直至超强胶环氧树脂。

附：英文原文

Title: Alkylidene functionalization produces highly recyclable and scalable polyhydroxyalkanoates

Author: Li Zhou, James H. May, Ravikumar R. Gowda, Levi J. Hamernik, Jacob K. Kenny, Lili Wang, Christopher D. Stubbs, Ethan C. Quinn, Jason S. DesVeaux, Katrina M. Knauer, Gregg T. Beckham, Eugene Y.-X. Chen

Issue&Volume: 2026-05-07

Abstract: Recyclable polymers that can be produced at scale and readily tuned within the same polymer framework for specific properties are critical to achieving a circular materials economy. To this end, synthetic poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate)s (PHAs) have emerged as high-performance, chemically recyclable variants of biological PHAs, but their difficult monomer syntheses and suboptimal recycling efficiencies pose challenges for large-scale deployment. In this study, we investigated a β-isopropylidene PHA, i-PHA, for which the lactone monomer can be synthesized by existing industrial methods from biomass-derived isobutyric acid. The alkylidene substituent prevents decarboxylative degradation typically observed during PHA depolymerization, enabling near-quantitative chemical recycling to monomer. Controlled hydrogenation of the β-isopropylidene side group produces PHAs with diverse performance metrics that are competitive with a range of commodity polymers, spanning strong fibers to ductile thermoplastics to superglue epoxy resins.

DOI: aed3914

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aed3914