The Hydrolysis of Nylon6 In Ionic Liquid to Recycle Nylon Waste

To date, several processes for Nylon6 depolymerization have been put forward. Herein, we first examined several ionic liquids for the hydrolysis of Nylon6. These ionic liquids are Brønsted acidic and they have been used both as a catalyst and environmental solvent for the hydrolytic reaction of Nylon6. The final result showed that using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl) as solvent and catalyst for hydrolysis of Nylon6 ,the high conversion of Nylon6 and yield of Aminocaproic acid were obtained. In order to confirm the product, FT-IR and ¹H NMR were performed. After the experimental, theoretically, we also used high level ab initio methods with the 6-31G(d) basis sets to calculate the interaction between [Bmim]Cl and Nylon6. Based on our calculated interaction, we conclude that hydrogen bonds exist between [Bmim]Cl and Nylon6 which explain that Nylon6 dissolve in [Bmim]Cl.