Environmental damage caused by waste plastics and downstream chemical breakdown products is a modern crisis. Endocrine‐disrupting bisphenol A (BPA), found in breakdown products of poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC), is an especially pernicious example that interferes with the reproduction and development of a wide range of organisms, including humans. Herein we report a single‐stage thiocracking method to chemically upcycle polycarbonate using elemental sulfur, a waste product of fossil fuel refining. Importantly, this method disintegrates bisphenol A units into monoaryls, thus eliminating endocrine‐disrupting BPA from the material and from any potential downstream waste. Thiocracking of PC (10 wt%) with elemental sulfur (90 wt%) at 320 °C yields the highly crosslinked network
- Award ID(s):
- 1708844
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10199253
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainable Chemistry
- Volume:
- 1
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2673-4079
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 183 to 197
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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