Copolymerization of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide with highly effective zinc hexacyanocobaltate(III)-based coordination catalyst

Abstract

Copolymerization of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide was successfully carried out by using double metal cyanide complex (DMC) based on Zn 3[Co(CN) 6] 2. It has been found that this catalyst demonstrated highly enhanced catalytic activity over 1000 g copolymer per gram of Zn 3[Co(CN) 6] 2 compared with its analog based on Zn 3[Fe(CN) 6] 2. The copolymers prepared were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, the molar fraction of CO 2 ( F CO2) for copolymer was as high as 0.31 under optimum condition. Propylene carbonate was also identified as co-product by the spectrometry. The study showed that lower temperature is favorable for incorporation of CO 2 into copolymer instead of propylene carbonate, and F CO2 is significantly influenced by amount of catalyst used. The kind of complexing agent employed in preparation impacted on the catalytic activity, but not yet for F CO2.