Application of Bismuth Catalysts for the Methanolysis of End‐of‐Life Poly(lactide)

Abstract The chemical recycling of poly(lactide) (PLA) was investigated especially the depolymerization for generating useful monomers/polymer precursors. In more detail, applying catalytic amounts of bismuth compounds PLA was converted to methyl lactate using methanol as depolymerization reagent. An excellent performance was observed for bismuth subsalicylate with turnover frequencies of up to 13,800 h −1 using microwave heating. Moreover, the usefulness of the bismuth subsalicylate catalyst was demonstrated in the depolymerization of various PLA goods. Interestingly, the bismuth subsalicylate was easily recovered after the reaction and was sent again to depolymerization revealing recyclability of the catalyst.