Photochemical aerobic upcycling of polystyrene plastics to commodity chemicals using anthraquinone as the photocatalyst

Abstract

Since the United Nations set goals dealing with climate change, the chemical industry has focused on recycling the already-used polymers, targeting the reinsertion of plastic waste to market via new products through reforming. Upcycling of polystyrene plastic waste is becoming one of the hottest fields of research in plastic upconversion. Herein, we introduce a novel, green, organocatalytic and photochemical aerobic upcycling process of polystyrene to benzoic acid, utilizing anthraquinone as the photocatalyst, LED 390 nm as the irradiation source and air as the sole oxidant. The developed protocol was applied successfully to the upcycling of daily-life used polystyrene products, leading to yields varying from 25% to 58%. Moreover, the obtained upcycled product from the polystyrene materials was employed to the successful synthesis of bioactive molecules, such as acetylsalicylic acid.