Zinc acetate zn oac 2

Ethylene glycol (>99.5%) was purchased from Carl Roth, Germany. Sodium methoxide (MeONa) (95%) and cobalt acetate Co(OAc)₂ (>99.9%) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich, Darmstadt, Germany. Zinc acetate Zn(OAc)₂ (>99.9%) was purchased from Alfa Aesar, Kandel, Germany. HPLC grade, technical grade methanol, and isopropanol (rinsing agent) were purchased from VWR Darmstadt, Germany. Deuterated methanol for NMR analysis was purchased from Deutero, Kastellaun, Germany. Glass microfiber filters type GF/C and grade MN GF-1 were purchased from VWR, Darmstadt, Germany, and were used to filter PET residue and glycolysis product, respectively. Post-Consumer soft drink soda bottles were used as POSTC-PET waste sources. They were washed, cleaned, and crushed to use as a substrate as represented in Figure S1 (Supplementary Materials).

Commonly used 500 mL PET
water bottles were acquired from the local market for this study.
After removing the bottles’ labels and the cap, an industrial
shredder (Brabender CWB, Granu-Grinder M120/150) was used to cut them
into 2–5 mm flakes. The shredded PET flakes were washed with
methanol and vacuum-dried at 60 °C. Commercial BHET was purchased
from Sigma-Aldrich and used as our standard. Antimony(III) oxide (Sb₂O₃) was supplied from Acros Organic Co. and zinc
acetate (Zn(OAc)₂) was purchased from Alfa Aesar. Ethylene
glycol (EG) and methanol were acquired from Fisher Chemical. All chemical
reagents were used without further purification.