Methanolysis of Plastic Waste with Manganese Compounds

Abstract This work describes a very efficient methodology for the methanolysis of polyester and polycarbonate plastic waste into a variety of valuable products using homogeneous and heterogeneous manganese compounds in the presence of KO t Bu. Excellent yields are obtained using 1 mol% of the homogeneous catalysts Mn(OTf) 2 , Mn 2 (CO) 10 , MnBr(CO) 5 , and MeCpMn(CO) 3 and 5 mol% of KO t Bu, under mild reaction conditions. The heterogeneous manganese catalyst, manganese(II) ethyl/butyl phosphonate silica (Si‐Mn), also successfully promoted the methanolysis of polyester and polycarbonate plastic waste with excellent yields. Furthermore, this heterogeneous catalyst can be applied in at least 12 catalytic cycles with excellent yields.