Research Projects

This proposal aims to address the urgent environmental challenge of plastic waste by developing advanced catalytic systems for the chemical upcycling of polyolefins, a major contributor to global plastic pollution. Polyolefins like HDPE, PP, and LLDPE account for nearly 60% of global plastic production and are currently recycled at rates of only around 10% due to the energy-intensive nature of existing methods. Transition metal-catalyzed chemical upcycling of polyolefins offers a promising approach to transform plastic waste into higher-value products. Developing sustainable and economical catalytic methods to introduce functional groups, such as unsaturation, into aliphatic polyolefin chains is a crucial step in this process. To counter this, we propose two innovative methods based on earth-abundant, first-row base metals, known for their affordability and abundance. The designed transition metal complexes are capable of introducing unsaturation into aliphatic polyolefin chains through metal-catalyzed dehydrogenation or β-alkyl and hydride transfer reactions. These unsaturated polyolefin chains (method I) and the resulting unsaturated olefin derivatives (method II) will serve as starting materials for synthesizing value-added products through olefin metathesis, hydroformylation, oxidative cleavage, and hydroelementation via tandem or cascade process. The overall process will enable the transformation of inert polyolefin waste into valuable chemical feedstocks, supporting a circular economy by reintegrating plastic-derived products into the production cycle. Our approach centers on synthesizing purpose-designed 3d transition metal complexes that can selectively and efficiently activate the robust C–C and C–H bonds in polyolefins, facilitating chain unsaturation (method I) followed by scission (method II) which further can employed for yielding high-value hydrocarbons. Active organometallic complexes tailored for high-energy bond activation will be anchored onto heterogeneous surfaces to improve recyclability, separation, catalyst durability, and turnover efficiency. This approach employs diverse combinations such as hetero/hetero, homo/hetero, and homo/homo configurations to address key challenges in plastic upcycling. Such integrated systems provide extensive opportunities for dehydrogenation, followed by secondary reactions (olefin metathesis, hydroformylation, oxidative cleavage, and hydroelementations), enabling the production of value-added products.