The predictive base reveals the basic sulfur -based building blocks that create sustainable and decomposing materials

Plastic is a major waste problem: many traditional plastic materials do not decompose, or do so only with great difficulty. This makes searching for new plastic materials necessary – materials that maintain useful properties but can also be deliberately divided or recycled. Such innovations can lead to more sustainable materials, allowing the use of plastic materials in a long -term resource.

According to Ticket Posted in the magazine International Edition of Applied ChemistryMerging sulfur atoms into polymer chains makes them more dissolving.

Sulfur atoms enhance the sustainability of polymers because the bonds between carbon and sulfur atoms are easier to break from the bonds between carbon and other carbon atoms or oxygen. This allows sulfur -containing plastic to deteriorate under relatively moderate conditions. However, the synthesis strategies of these plastic materials remain backward, which hinders production on a large scale.

A first step has been taken towards huge production now: an international research team, including members of the University of Martin Luther Haley Whiteburg, Texas A and M. and Birihyll University, has developed a way to test and compare many construction blocks that contain sulfur for its suitability in plastic production.

Professor Alex J. Blajir, a professor of young molecular chemistry at the University of Bayrywith: “With our study, we were able to place a predictive base that indicates the basic sulfur-based building blocks that give completely organized and clean polymers-which do not do so.”

To date, the basic building blocks and reaction conditions used to produce these plastic materials contain sulfur must be designed and specifically improved for each group of components.

“There was no plan to produce sustainable plastic materials with sulfur under uniform conditions,” explains Plajer.

Using their new method, the researchers have identified carbonil sulfide as a special construction court for sulfur for plastic production. Carbonil sulfide interacts very reliably, and long -organized polymer chains are uniform – and it does this with the least use of the catalyst to facilitate chemical reaction. In addition, the reaction produces very few unwanted secondary products.

“The results we find set the foundation for developing new sustainable materials that can be divided in a controlled manner,” Plajer concludes.