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1. Carbonization of Butadiene Enables Recyclable Carbon Fiber Polymer Composites

   https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-7kfc4  

   Turney, Keaton; Mokarizadeh, Abol; Tsige, Mesfin; Eagan, James (March 2025, Engage)

   The catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into polymers via high-energy comonomers offers a sustainable, low-cost, and low-emission approach for developing conveniently manufactured high-performance materials without competing for land-use or food resources. We present the synthesis of poly(amidoamine) polymers stoichiometrically derived from carbon dioxide, butadiene, and amines displaying useful mechanical properties (tensile strength 43 MPa, Young’s modulus 840 MPa, and flexural modulus 2.8 GPa). The low viscosity precursors are applicable to producing carbon fiber reinforced polymers with fiber wetting and rapid network formation (16 minutes at 150°C). This work reveals that internal hydrogen-bonding catalyzes the ring-opening polymerization, and the intramolecular alcohol moiety promotes chemical recyclability in acidic conditions, allowing fiber recovery with <1.0 wt % difference from virgin fiber and monomer in 72% yield. 

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2. Anionic Conjugate Addition Oligomerization of Carbon Dioxide/Butadiene Derived Lactones

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.4c00164  

   Crawford, Brennan J; Bochenek, Calum; Garcia_Espinosa, Luis D; Keating, Addie R; Williams-Pavlantos, Kayla; Wesdemiotis, Chrys; Eagan, James M (June 2024, ACS Macro Letters)
3. Sulfurous zeosils for dehydra-decyclization of tetrahydrofuran to renewable butadiene

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3GC03090C  

   Andeme_Ela, Raisa Carmen; Barroso, Jorge; Kumar, Gaurav; Gawande, Kaivalya; Brauer, Sophie A; Shetty, Manish; Li, Xinyu; Fan, Wei; Vlaisavljevich, Bess; Dauenhauer, Paul J (December 2023, Green Chemistry)

   Renewable 1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD, C4H6) was synthesized from the tandem decyclization and dehydration of biomass-derived tetrahydrofuran (THF) on weak Brønsted acid zeolite catalysts. 1,3-BD is a highly solicited monomer for the synthesis of rubbers and elastomers. Selective conversion of THF to 1,3-BD was recently measured on phosphorus-modified siliceous zeolites (P-zeosils) at both high and low space velocities, albeit with low per-site catalytic activity. In this work, we combined kinetic analyses and QM/MM calculations to evaluate the interaction of THF with the various Brønsted acid sites (BAS) of Boric (B), Phosphoric (P), and Sulfuric (S) acid modified silicalite-1 catalysts toward a dehydra-decyclization pathway to form 1,3-BD. Detailed kinetic measurements revealed that all three catalysts exhibited high selectivity to 1,3-BD ca. 64–96% in the order of S-MFI > P-MFI > B-MFI at a given temperature (360 °C). Notably, the S-MFI maintained a selectivity >90% for all evaluated process conditions. The computational results suggested that the nature of the Brønsted acid sites and the adsorption energetics (relative THF-acid site interaction energies) are distinct in each catalyst. Additionally, the protonation of THF can be improved with the addition of a water molecule acting as a proton shuttle, particularly in S-MFI. Overall, S-containing zeosils exhibited the ability to control reaction pathways and product distribution in dehydra-decyclization chemistry optimization within microporous zeolites, providing another alternative weak-acid catalytic material. 

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4. Selective Epoxidation of 1,3-Butadiene on AgCu Near-Surface Alloys

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c01912  

   Cramer, Laura A.; Daniels, Avery S.; Çinar, Volkan; Deshlahra, Prashant; Sykes, E. Charles (August 2022, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C)
5. Fatigue-induced dual stiffness behavior of filled styrene–butadiene rubber

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1464420718809502  

   Liu, Ruofan; Sancaktar, Erol (November 2018, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part L: Journal of Materials: Design and Applications)