近日，美国科罗拉多州立大学Chen, Eugene Y.-X.团队报道了二氧化碳与双环烷烃交替共聚制环状聚酯。2026年7月29日，《自然》杂志发表了这一成果。

自20世纪60年代以来，人们一直致力于将丰富但惰性的CO₂转化为有用的聚合物，这一目标通常通过与反应性共聚单体在催化剂辅助下共聚来实现，从而克服CO₂固定和嵌入所面临的热力学限制和高动力学能垒。然而，制备聚酯仍是一大挑战，因为CO₂与烯烃的交替共聚在热力学上不可行。

研究组介绍了一种基于闭环CO₂的聚酯平台，通过CO₂与双环烷烃——双环丁烷（BCB）和双环戊烷（BCP）单体直接交替共聚，生产高性能且可回收的聚酯。该共聚反应由简单的有机催化剂引发，以完美的交替方式进行，得到高分子量聚酯，其CO₂嵌入量最高达50 mol%，且主链结构明确，链内环状结构使其热性能和力学性能可调。这些聚酯兼具理想的综合性能和明确的寿命终期处置方案。

尽管BCB–CO₂聚酯在全部pH范围内均表现出优异的热稳定性和水解稳定性，但它们可在本体和碱催化条件下选择性解聚，以大于90%的分离收率再生出纯BCB单体。BCP–CO₂聚酯同样可选择性解聚，但产物为双环内酯。连续的解聚–再聚合循环为BCB/BCP–CO₂高性能聚酯建立了闭环生命周期。

附：英文原文

Title: Alternating CO2 and bicycloalkane copolymerization to circular polyesters

Author: Zhu, Min, Westworth, Xavier, Zhao, Yingluo, Deshmukh, Gaurav S., Barange, Deepak K., Zhang, Tao, Gowda, Ravikumar R., Broadbelt, Linda J., Chen, Eugene Y.-X.

Issue&Volume: 2026-07-29

Abstract: Transforming abundant but inert CO2 into useful polymers has been pursued since the 1960s (ref.1) and has typically been achieved by copolymerization with a reactive comonomer, aided by a catalyst, which can address both thermodynamic constraints and high kinetic barriers associated with CO2 fixation and incorporation2,3,4,5. However, making polyesters remains a challenge as alternating copolymerization of CO2 with alkenes is thermodynamically infeasible6. Here we introduce a closed-loop CO2-based polyester platform for producing high-performance yet recyclable polyesters by direct alternating copolymerization of CO2 with bicycloalkanes, bicyclic butane (BCB) and pentane (BCP) monomers. This copolymerization is initiated by a simple organic catalyst and proceeds in a perfectly alternating fashion to high-molar-mass polyesters with maximum (50mol%) CO2 incorporation and architecturally defined backbones, in which the in-chain ring structure enables tailorable thermal and mechanical properties. These polyesters exhibit desired orthogonal performance and end-of-life outcomes. Although the BCB-CO2 polyesters exhibit exceptional thermal and hydrolytic stability across the full pH range, they can be selectively depolymerized in bulk and base-catalysed conditions to regenerate pure BCB monomers in >90% isolated yield. The BCP-CO2 polyesters can also be selectively depolymerized but to bicyclolactones. Sequential depolymerization–repolymerization cycles establish circular lifecycles for BCB/BCP-CO2 high-performance polyesters.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10848-2

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10848-2