An Eco-Friendly Scheme for the Cross-Linked Polybutadiene Elastomer via Thiol–Ene and Diels–Alder Click Chemistry

We reported a novel method of producing the cross-linked polybutadiene elastomer which could be thermally recycled like the plastic materials without the sacrifice of functional utility. The commercial polybutadiene was first attached with furan via thiol–ene reaction, and the cross-linked network was then built via Diels–Alder click reaction between the bismaleimide and attached furan groups from polybutadiene. The obtained polymer had good solvent resistance from ambient temperature to 100 °C. The mechanical properties of modified polybutadiene could be tailored by the amount of attached furan and the ratio of furan to bismaleimide. Furthermore, the dynamic cross-linked polybutadiene had good thermally remolded and self-healing behaviors. By this method, the dynamic cross-linked polybutadiene could be recycled to use in a sustainable way. Concerning all the raw materials were available in large quantities without tedious and multistep synthetic routes, this work demonstrated the high performance recycling solution to the commercial cross-linked polybutadiene, which might be applied in industry in relatively short time.