title: Hydroxyl-Exchanged Nanoporous Ionic Copolymer toward Low-Temperature Cycloaddition of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide into Carbonates.
abstract: An ionic copolymer catalyst with nanopores, large surface area, high ionic density, and superior basicity was prepared via the radical copolymerization of amino-functionalized ionic liquid bromide and divinylbenzene, followed with a hydroxyl exchange for removing bromonium. Evaluated in chemical fixation of CO2 with epoxides into cyclic carbonates in the absence of any solvent and basic additive, the nanoporous copolymer catalyst showed high and stable activity, superior to various control catalysts including the halogen-containing analogue. Further, high yields were obtained over a wide scope of substrates including aliphatic long carbon-chain alkyl epoxides and internal epoxide, even under atmospheric pressure and less than 100 °C for the majority of the substrates. On the basis of in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) investigation and density functional theory (DFT) calculation for the reaction intermediates, we proposed a possible reaction mechanism accounting for the superior catalytic activity of the ionic copolymer. The specifically prepared ionic copolymer material of this work features highly stable, noncorrosive, and sustainable catalysis and, thus, may be a new possibility for efficient chemical fixation of CO2 since it is an environmentally friendly, metal-free solid catalyst.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zengjing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaochun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jingyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: CO2 conversion; cycloaddition reaction; heterogeneous catalysis; nanoporous ionic copolymer; solid base