Efficient Alcoholysis of Polycarbonate Catalyzed by Recyclable Lewis Acidic Ionic Liquids

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In this contribution, an efficient and green protocol for alcoholysis of waste polycarbonate (PC) using Lewis acidic ionic liquids (ILs) was first developed under mild and solvent-free conditions. The influence of Lewis acidity and reaction parameters on the catalytic activity were thoroughly studied. It showed that with only 5.0 mol % [Bmim]Cl·2.0FeCl3 loading, 100% PC conversion with 97.2% bisphenol A (BPA) yield was efficiently obtained at 120 °C and n(CH3OH)/n(PC) = 6:1 for 3.0 h. The alcohol scopes for depolymerization of waste PC into BPA monomer were examined, and the moderate to excellent product yields were obtained under the optimized conditions. Also the [Bmim]Cl·2.0FeCl3 catalyst could be reused five successive times without a significant decrease of the catalytic activity. Combining the kinetic study and the in situ FT-IR analysis, a feasible reaction mechanism was proposed.