Polyethylene glycol-supported ionic liquid as a highly efficient catalyst for the synthesis of propylene carbonate under mild conditions

Abstract

The coupling reaction of propylene and CO₂ to form propylene carbonate (PC) was promoted by an ionic liquid (IL) covalently bound to polyethylene glycol (PEG). The supported ionic liquid, which has both acidic and basic components, proved to be an active catalyst for PC synthesis under mild conditions. The effects of different cations and anions, reaction temperature, CO₂ pressure, and reaction time were investigated. It was demonstrated that the acid group in the catalyst plays an important role in the reaction. With this system, a high PC yield (95%) was achieved under mild conditions (3.0 MPa, 120°C and 4 h) without a co-solvent. In addition, the catalyst was readily recovered and reused. Based on the experimental results, a plausible mechanism for the catalyst was proposed.

Keywords

ionic liquid / PEG-supported ionic liquid / carbon dioxide / propylene carbonate

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21076152), the Special Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 2100032110018) and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities, China (No. B06006).

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