Figure 4:

Glycolysis of PET and co-polymers at 170 °C with 16:1 EG:polymer molar ratio and 5 wt% DMEA as a catalyst. Reactions were run in 12 mL Swagelok tube reactors using 8.5 mmol of polymer. Each data point is the average of duplicate experiments. (A) Plot of initial rates of glycolysis. BHET formation was quantified by HPLC. Quantification data for other small molecules can be found in Tables S10–13. Error between duplicate runs is smaller than the data point label. R² values for the linear fits are >0.99. (B) M_n of solids collected post-reaction, determined by GPC in HFIP. Error bars represent the value range between duplicate runs. Full GPC traces can be found in Fig. S11.