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Plastics

Designing circular plastics from a single monomer

Nature Reviews Materials (2026)Cite this article

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Chemical recycling is emerging as a cornerstone of a circular plastics economy, yet most recyclable polymers still struggle to combine scalable synthesis, tunable properties and closed-loop recovery from mixed waste streams. Now, writing in Nature Materials, Zhongzheng Cai, Jian-Bo Zhu and collaborators introduce a polymerization strategy that transforms a single monomer — tetramethylene urethane — into a family of polyurethanes with diverse properties, all of which can be chemically recycled back to the same monomer.

Thermal analysis shows that increasing urethane content increases both decomposition temperature and crystallinity. This structural tunability translates directly into composition-dependent material performance: PU35 behaves as a soft thermoplastic, PU57 combines high toughness with a ductility comparable to that of commercial polyolefins, and PU76 achieves exceptional strength and stiffness and an oxygen barrier performance better than that of commercial plastics. All compounds display robust adhesion, with adhesive strength surpassing that of commercial glues. The ability to access such a broad property spectrum from a single monomer by simply changing the reaction time marks a conceptual shift in polymer design.

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  1. Nature Reviews Materials http://www.nature.com/natrevmats/

    Giulia Pacchioni

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  1. Giulia Pacchioni
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Correspondence to Giulia Pacchioni.

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This text on an editorially selected paper was initially drafted using artificial intelligence, then revised and fact-checked by an editor to meet Nature Portfolio publication standards.

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Pacchioni, G. Designing circular plastics from a single monomer. Nat Rev Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-026-00904-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-026-00904-8

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