Copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide with carbon dioxide over nano-sized multi-metal cyanide catalysts

Abstract

The copolymerizations of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and cyclohexene oxide (CHO) using nano-sized double and multi-metal cyanide catalysts were investigated. The nano-sized double metal cyanide (NDMC) catalyst was prepared by reacting K 3[Co(CN) 6] 2 and ZnCl 2 in a reverse emulsion condition and nano-sized multi-metal cyanide (NMMC) catalyst by reacting K 3[Co(CN) 6] 2, K 4Fe(CN) 6, YCl 3 and ZnCl 2 at the similar conditions. Neutral surfactant, Igepal CA-520, used in the preparation step played important roles in acting both as an emulsifier and as a complexing reagent. NDMC and NMMC catalysts were demonstrated to be highly effective for copolymerizations of CHO with CO 2. The catalysts showed catalytic activity as high as 41.6 g/mol of Zn per hour at 80 °C and the carbonate content in the copolymer was estimated to be 57.8%. Effects of reaction conditions such as reaction time, temperature, CO 2 pressure and catalyst concentration on copolymerizations were investigated.