γ-butyrolactone (γ-BL), serving as the monomer of biocompatible and recyclable poly(γ-butyrolactone) plastic, faces a giant challenge in ring-opening polymerization (ROP) due to its low strain energy. The ROP of γ-BL is generally achieved under harsh conditions (e.g., high-pressure or gas-protected atmosphere) and is mostly based on homogeneous systems. Here, we synthesize a series of lanthanum metal-organic framework-based porous nanospheres and successfully apply them as heterogeneous catalysts in efficient ROP of γ-BL under mild conditions. Specifically, NNU-mIM-3 presents a yield of 24.6% with low polydispersity distribution centered at 3.6 kDa and the obtained PγBL can be completely and quantitatively recycled into monomers by simple heat treatment. Besides, the ROP catalysis systems have been intensively explored with various imine-based additives, proven to exhibit largely improved performance with PγBL yield of ~50% and Mw of ~8 kDa. This work paves a new way to explore novel heterogeneous catalysts in producing biocompatible and degradable plastics.

γ-丁内酯（γ-BL）作为生物相容性和可回收的聚（γ-丁内酯）塑料的单体，由于其低应变能而在开环聚合（ROP）中面临巨大挑战。γ-BL的ROP通常是在苛刻的条件下（例如，高压或气体保护的气氛）实现的，并且大多基于均质系统。在这里，我们合成了一系列基于镧金属-有机骨架的多孔纳米球，并成功地将它们作为多相催化剂在温和条件下有效地应用于γ-BL的ROP中。具体地说，NNU-mIM-3的收率为24.6％，低分散性集中在3.6kDa，通过简单的热处理就可以将所获得的PγBL完全定量地再循环到单体中。除了，ROP催化系统已使用各种基于亚胺的添加剂进行了深入研究，事实证明，PγBL的收率约为50％，Mw约为8 kDa，具有显着改善的性能。这项工作为探索新型的非均相催化剂生产生物相容性和可降解塑料开辟了一条新途径。