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Invited for this month's cover is the group of Stephan Enthaler at the University of Hamburg (Germany). The cover picture shows the general structure of chemical recycling processes. In more detail, the chemical recycling of end-of-life polymers (plastics) is subdivided into two linked processes. The depolymerization allows the conversion of the end-of-life polymer to monomers, which can be reused in the polymerization step for the synthesis of the polymer. By doing so advantages with respect to resource-efficiency and sustainability can be created. In our manuscript we applied the chemical recycling concept via depolymerization-polymerization for poly(lactide). Read the full text of their Communication at 10.1002/open.202000243., (© 2020 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Chemical recycling processes can contribute to a resource-efficient plastic economy. Herein, a procedure for the iron-catalyzed hydrogenation of the carbonate function of end-of-life polycarbonates under simultaneous depolymerization is presented. The use of a straightforward iron pincer complex leads to high rate of depolymerization of poly(bisphenol A carbonate) and poly(propylene carbonate) yielding the monomers bisphenol A and 1,2-propanediol, respectively, as products under mild reaction conditions. Furthermore, the iron complex was able to depolymerize polycarbonates containing goods and mixture of plastics containing polycarbonates., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The chemical recycling of end-of-life polymers can add some value to a future circular economy. In this regard, the hydrogenative degradation of end-of-life PLA was investigated to produce 1,2-propanediol as product, which is a useful building block in polymer chemistry. In more detail, the commercially available Ru-MACHO-BH complex was applied as catalyst to degrade end-of-life PLA efficiently to 1,2-propanediol under mild conditions. After investigations of the reaction conditions a set of end-of-life PLA goods were subjected to degradation., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.)

The valorization of waste to valuable chemicals can contribute to a more resource-efficient and circular chemistry. In this regard, the selective degradation of end-of-life polymers/plastics to produce useful chemical building blocks can be a promising target. We have investigated the hydrogenative depolymerization of end-of-life poly(bisphenol A carbonate). Applying catalytic amounts of the commercial available Ruthenium-MACHO-BH complex the end-of-life polycarbonate was converted to bisphenol A and methanol. Importantly, bisphenol A can be reprocessed for the manufacture of new poly-(bisphenol A carbonate) and methanol can be utilized as energy storage material., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.)

The chemical recycling of end-of-life plastic waste streams can contribute to a resource-conserving and sustainable society. This matter of recycling is composed of a sequence of depolymerization and subsequent polymerization reactions. In this regard, we have studied the chemical recycling of end-of-life poly(bisphenol A carbonate) applying phenol as depolymerization reagent. In the presence of catalytic amounts of alkali metal halides as products bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate were obtained in excellent turnover frequencies of up to 1392 h -1 and short reaction times. These depolymerization products offer the straightforward possibility to close the cycle by producing new poly(bisphenol A carbonate) and as second product phenol, which can be reused for further depolymerizations., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The Ni(II) -mediated tautomerization of the N-heterocyclic hydrosilylcarbene L(2) Si(H)(CH2 )NHC 1, where L(2) =CH(CCH2 )(CMe)(NAr)2 , Ar=2,6-iPr2 C6 H3 ; NHC=3,4,5-trimethylimidazol-2-yliden-6-yl, leads to the first N-heterocyclic silylene (NHSi)-carbene (NHC) chelate ligand in the dibromo nickel(II) complex [L(1) Si:(CH2 )(NHC)NiBr2 ] 2 (L(1) =CH(MeCNAr)2 ). Reduction of 2 with KC8 in the presence of PMe3 as an auxiliary ligand afforded, depending on the reaction time, the N-heterocyclic silyl-NHC bromo Ni(II) complex [L(2) Si(CH2 )NHCNiBr(PMe3 )] 3 and the unique Ni(0) complex [η(2) (Si-H){L(2) Si(H)(CH2 )NHC}Ni(PMe3 )2 ] 4 featuring an agostic SiH→Ni bonding interaction. When 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane (DMPE) was employed as an exogenous ligand, the first NHSi-NHC chelate-ligand-stabilized Ni(0) complex [L(1) Si:(CH2 )NHCNi(dmpe)] 5 could be isolated. Moreover, the dicarbonyl Ni(0) complex 6, [L(1) Si:(CH2 )NHCNi(CO)2 ], is easily accessible by the reduction of 2 with K(BHEt3 ) under a CO atmosphere. The complexes were spectroscopically and structurally characterized. Furthermore, complex 2 can serve as an efficient precatalyst for Kumada-Corriu-type cross-coupling reactions., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The formation of carbon-carbon bonds is one of the fundamental transformations in chemistry. In this regard the application of palladium-based catalysts has been extensively investigated during recent years, but nowadays research focuses on iron catalysis, due to sustainability, costs and toxicity issues; hence numerous examples for iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have been established, based on the coupling of electrophiles (R(1)-X, X = halide) with nucleophiles (R(2)-MgX). Only a small number of protocols deals with the iron-catalyzed oxidative coupling of nucleophiles (R(1)-MgX + R(2)-MgX) with the aid of oxidants (1,2-dihaloethanes). However, some issues arise with these oxidants; hence more recently the potential of the industrial waste product nitrous oxide (N(2)O) was investigated, because the unproblematic side product N(2) is formed. Based on that, we demonstrate the catalytic potential of easily accessible iron complexes in the oxidative coupling of Grignard reagents. Importantly, nitrous oxide was essential to obtain yields up to >99% at mild conditions (e.g. 1 atm, ambient temperature) and low catalyst loadings (0.1 mol%) Excellent catalyst performance is realized with turnover numbers of up to 1000 and turnover frequencies of up to 12000 h(-1). Moreover, a good functional group tolerance is observed (e.g. amide, ester, nitrile, alkene, alkyne). Afterwards the reaction of different Grignard reagents revealed interesting results with respect to the selectivity of cross-coupling product formation.