Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s
Plastic pollution is a global problem affecting the environment and, consequently, people’s well-being. Careful and timely end-of-life plastic recycling is certainly a way, albeit a partial one, to remedy the problem. The immediate identification and selection of the different types of plastic mater...
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MDPI AG
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Molecules |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/29/24/5940 |
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| author | Fabia Grisi Rubina Troiano Donatella Fiore Patrizia Gazzerro Mariateresa Lettieri Vincenzo Venditto Stefania Pragliola |
| author_facet | Fabia Grisi Rubina Troiano Donatella Fiore Patrizia Gazzerro Mariateresa Lettieri Vincenzo Venditto Stefania Pragliola |
| author_sort | Fabia Grisi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Plastic pollution is a global problem affecting the environment and, consequently, people’s well-being. Careful and timely end-of-life plastic recycling is certainly a way, albeit a partial one, to remedy the problem. The immediate identification and selection of the different types of plastic materials in the recycling process certainly facilitate its recovery and reuse, allowing the damage caused by plastic emission into the environment to be limited. Recently, new technologies for automatic sorting of plastics based upon fluorescent tagging have been considered. This article reports the synthesis and characterization of fluorescent copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that could be potentially used as fluorescent markers of commercial PMMA. Poly(methylmetacrylate-<i>co</i>-2-(9-carbazolyl)ethyl methacrylate) (P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA)) and poly(methylmetacrylate-<i>co</i>-7-methacryloyloxycoumarin) (P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC)) samples containing a small number of fluorescent units (<4%) were synthesized by free-radical polymerization. All copolymer samples show chemico-physical properties like those of pure PMMA and produce fluorescence emission under 290 nm wavelength excitation. P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA)s and P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC)s were also tested as fluorescent dyes for PMMA identification. The experimental results demonstrate that PMMA/P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA) and PMMA/P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC) blends prepared using 1% by weight of fluorescent copolymer show a homogeneous morphology completely similar to pure PMMA and are still optically active. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b17df3cce6824867a67d0901c3e014b6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1420-3049 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecules |
| spelling | doaj-art-b17df3cce6824867a67d0901c3e014b62025-08-20T02:51:07ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492024-12-012924594010.3390/molecules29245940Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)sFabia Grisi0Rubina Troiano1Donatella Fiore2Patrizia Gazzerro3Mariateresa Lettieri4Vincenzo Venditto5Stefania Pragliola6Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, and INSTM Research Unit, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, and INSTM Research Unit, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyDipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyDipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyCNR-SPIN, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, and INSTM Research Unit, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, and INSTM Research Unit, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, I-84084 Fisciano, SA, ItalyPlastic pollution is a global problem affecting the environment and, consequently, people’s well-being. Careful and timely end-of-life plastic recycling is certainly a way, albeit a partial one, to remedy the problem. The immediate identification and selection of the different types of plastic materials in the recycling process certainly facilitate its recovery and reuse, allowing the damage caused by plastic emission into the environment to be limited. Recently, new technologies for automatic sorting of plastics based upon fluorescent tagging have been considered. This article reports the synthesis and characterization of fluorescent copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that could be potentially used as fluorescent markers of commercial PMMA. Poly(methylmetacrylate-<i>co</i>-2-(9-carbazolyl)ethyl methacrylate) (P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA)) and poly(methylmetacrylate-<i>co</i>-7-methacryloyloxycoumarin) (P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC)) samples containing a small number of fluorescent units (<4%) were synthesized by free-radical polymerization. All copolymer samples show chemico-physical properties like those of pure PMMA and produce fluorescence emission under 290 nm wavelength excitation. P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA)s and P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC)s were also tested as fluorescent dyes for PMMA identification. The experimental results demonstrate that PMMA/P(MMA-<i>co</i>-CEMA) and PMMA/P(MMA-<i>co</i>-MAOC) blends prepared using 1% by weight of fluorescent copolymer show a homogeneous morphology completely similar to pure PMMA and are still optically active.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/29/24/5940poly(methyl metacrylate)carbazolecoumarinfluorescent taggingplastic recycling |
| spellingShingle | Fabia Grisi Rubina Troiano Donatella Fiore Patrizia Gazzerro Mariateresa Lettieri Vincenzo Venditto Stefania Pragliola Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s Molecules poly(methyl metacrylate) carbazole coumarin fluorescent tagging plastic recycling |
| title | Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s |
| title_full | Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s |
| title_fullStr | Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s |
| title_short | Fluorescently Tagged Poly(methyl methacrylate)s |
| title_sort | fluorescently tagged poly methyl methacrylate s |
| topic | poly(methyl metacrylate) carbazole coumarin fluorescent tagging plastic recycling |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/29/24/5940 |
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