Efficient heterogeneous functionalized polymer ionic liquid catalyst for the synthesis of ethylene carbonate via the coupling of carbon dioxide with ethylene oxide

Abstract

A series of functionalized polymer ionic liquids (PILs) were synthesized and immobilized onto a 4 Å molecular sieve. The catalytic activity of the resulting heterogeneous catalyst toward the synthesis of ethylene carbonate (EC) via the cycloaddition reaction of ethylene oxide (EO) and CO2 was studied. The effects of the reaction conditions such as reaction temperature, pressure, time, and the amount of catalyst used, were systematically investigated. A high yield of EC and excellent selectivity could be obtained under optimized conditions. The catalyst is thermally stable and shows good reusability. Based on the experimental results, a plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed for the catalytic reaction.