Enzymatic synthesis and chemical recycling of poly(carbonate-urethane).

Novel enzymatically recyclable poly(carbonate-urethane) consisting of a diurethane moiety as a hard segment and a carbonate linkage as an enzymatically cleavable unit was prepared by the polycondensation of biodegradable diurethanediol and diethyl carbonate using lipase. The produced poly(carbonate-urethane) was readily transformed by lipase into the corresponding cyclic oligomers which were more easily repolymerized by lipase to produce a higher molecular weight poly(carbonate-urethane) than that of the parent poly(carbonate-urethane).