Monomer Recycling and Repolymerization of Post-Consumer Polyester Textiles

Due to the presence of dyes and additives, textile recycling is challenging, therefore the majority of textile waste is downcycled to low-value products, incinerated or landfilled. In this study, a continuous depolymerization of post-consumer polyester textiles was conducted by alkaline hydrolysis. The degree of depolymerization was assessed and found to be 94 %. After recovering and analyzing the terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol the monomers were successfully polymerized to regain a food grade quality recycled polyethylene terephthalate. The presented recycling approach allows a closed-loop recycling of textiles.     

Gelatinisation and Retrogradation Behaviour of Some Starch Mixtures

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic rheological measurements were used to characterise the behaviour of potato‐waxy maize, potato‐barley and waxy maize‐barley starch mixtures. Gelatinisation and retrogradation were studied at two starch concentrations, 20% (w/w) and 50% (w/w). In the DSC gelatinisation thermograms of the mixtures it was possible to recognise features of the thermograms of the individual components, indicating that each starch gelatinised independently of the other starch in the mixture. The retrogradation enthalpy was measured in the DSC after four and seven days of storage at 6 °C. The lowest values of retrogradation enthalpy for the mixtures were found for the waxy maize‐barley and potato‐barley mixtures, particularly at 20% starch concentrations and in the ratios 25:75 and 50:50, correspondingly. The retrogradation enthalpy measured for most starch mixtures corresponded to the calculated value, assuming that each starch contributed to the enthalpy according to its proportion in the mixture. Storage and loss moduli were measured for gelatinised starch suspensions during cooling from 90 to 6 °C, and then during a holding period at 6 °C for up to 6 h. The moduli for the mixtures were in most cases in between the values obtained for the individual starches.     

Rational Loading of Linear Multi-Site Receptors with Functional Lanthanide Containers: The Missing Link between Oligomers and Polymers

Although metal-containing organic polymers are becoming essential for modern applications in lighting, catalysis, and electronic devices, very little is known about their controlled metallic loading, which mainly limits their design to empirical mixing followed by characterization and often hampers rational developments. Focusing on the appealing optical and magnetic properties of 4f-block cations, the host–guest reactions leading to linear lanthanidopolymers already display some unexpected dependence of the binding-site affinities on the length of the organic polymer backbone: a drift usually, and erroneously, assigned to intersite cooperativity. Taking advantage of the parameters obtained for the stepwise thermodynamic loading of a series of rigid linear multi-tridentate organic receptors with increasing length, N = 1 (monomer L1), N = 2 (dimer L2), and N = 3 (trimer L3), with [Ln(hfa)3] containers in solution (Ln = trivalent lanthanide cations, hfa⁻ = 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-pentane-2,4-dione anion), it is demonstrated here that the site-binding model, based on the Potts–Ising approach, successfully predicts the binding properties of the novel soluble polymer P2 ^N made up of nine successive binding units . An in-depth examination of the photophysical properties of these lanthanidopolymers shows impressive UV→vis downshifting quantum yields for the europium-based red luminescence, which can be modulated by the length of the polymeric chain.     

Highly Tuneable Photochromic Sodalites for Dosimetry,Security Marking and Imaging

Photochromic sodalites are considered for a plethora of possible applications, such as UV indexing and X-ray imaging, but for many of these the materials are yet to be optimized. UV indexing can be improved through incremental adjustment of the activation energy of coloration from 300 to 410 nm through replacement of sulfur with selenium. By combining this and other methods of tuning presented in the literature, the excitation threshold and photochromism color can be tuned independently of one another. The range of possible absorption maxima is expanded to 420–680 nm, or almost the entire visible spectrum. Mixing low-cost and easy-to-synthesize sodalites further broadens the possible range of colors and facilitates development of a unique sodalite mix capable of quantifying the doses of two types of UV radiation simultaneously. Finally, the response to X-rays of these highly tuned sodalites is investigated, and it is found that they can be sensitized to produce clear, high-contrast X-ray images at significantly lower doses of radiation than those required by classic photochromic sodalite, Na₈(AlSiO₄)₆(Cl,S)₂.     

Formation of Amylose‐Lipid Complexes and Effects of Temperature Treatment. Part 1. Monoglycerides

The formation of amylose‐lipid complexes of form I (amorphous structure) and form II (crystalline structure) during heating was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for a range of monoglycerides and for monoglyceride mixtures. The temperature treatment applied to amylose‐monoglyceride‐mixtures were either the first scan in DSC (10 °C/min, 15‐144 °C) or a prolonged heat treatment where the samples were kept at 100 °C for 24 h before being analysed in DSC. The temperature treatment influenced which type of complex was formed, and how much, whereas the thermal stability (as judged from the transition peak temperature) was only marginally influenced. It is shown in this study that all the investigated monoglycerides were able to give complex form I as well as complex form II, although the conditions for the formation differed between the monoglycerides. It was found that a simple DSC‐scan was enough for formation of complex form II for the shortest monoglycerides (glycerol monocaprin, glycerol monolaurin and glycerol monomyristin), whereas in case of the longer monoglycerides and monoglyceride mixtures the prolonged heat treatment was required for formation of complex form II. Moreover, the monoglyceride mixtures gave only form II at conditions where the individual components in the mixtures gave both form I and form II.     

Formation of Supramolecular Gels from Host–Guest Interactions between PEGylated Chitosan and α-Cyclodextrin

Chitosan-based hydrogels are prepared via the formation of polypseudorotaxanes (PPR), by selectively threading α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) macrocycles onto polymeric chains, which, through the formation of microcrystalline domains, act as junction points for the network. Specifically, host–guest inclusion complexes are formed between α-CD and PEGylated chitosan (PEG-Ch), resulting in the formation of supramolecular gels. PEG-grafted chitosan is obtained with a reaction yield of 79.8%, a high degree of grafting (50.9% GW) and water solubility (≈16 mg mL⁻¹), as assessed by turbidimetry. A range of compositions for mixtures of PEG-Ch solutions (0.2–0.8% w/w) and α-CD solutions (2−12% w/w, or 0.04–0.2% mol) are studied. Regardless of PEG content, gels are not formed at low α-CD concentrations (<4%). Dynamic rheology measurements reveal stiff gels (G’ above 15k) and a narrow linear viscoelastic region, reflecting their brittleness. The highest elastic modulus is obtained for a hydrogel composition of 0.4% PEG-Ch and 6% α-CD. Steady-state measurements, cycling between low and high shear rates, confirm the thixotropic nature of the gels, demonstrating their capacity to fully recover their mechanical properties after being exposed to high stress, making them good candidates to use as in-situ gel-forming materials for drug delivery to topical or parenteral sites.