CO2-induced dissolution of ZnO into ionic liquids and its catalytic application for the hydration of propargylic alcohols

Abstract

An unexpected CO2-induced dissolution of ZnO into ionic liquids was discovered. This process exhibited high dissolution speed and the dissociated mixture was applied as an efficient Zn-based catalytic system for the CO2-promoted hydration of propargylic alcohols under atmospheric pressure with broad substrate scope. Moreover, this system could be recycled and reused for at least 16 times with excellent yields continuously obtained, which is an unprecedented record for this reaction. Significantly, this system could employ waste pigments as the ZnO source and work even under flue gas atmosphere. In the mechanistic investigations, the interaction between ZnO, CO2 and ionic liquids to give N-heterocyclic carbene/CO2 adducts proved to be the key factor for this specific dissolution. These adducts were further identified to exhibit better reactivity than the normal CO2 by experimental data and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which might be responsible for the excellent performance of the abovementioned catalytic system.