Immobilized protic ionic liquids: Efficient catalysts for CO2 fixation with epoxides

Abstract

A series of immobilized protic ionic liquids were prepared and used as catalysts for chemical fixation of carbon dioxide with epoxide to form cyclic carbonate. The effects of reaction temperature, carbon dioxide pressure and the loading of immobilized ionic liquid on the synthesis of cyclic carbonate from carbon dioxide and epoxide were investigated. Under the optimized reaction conditions, PS-ImHI showed the highest catalytic activity, and propylene carbonate was yield to 98.1% with more than 99% of selectivity. In the coupling reaction of carbon dioxide and epoxide, the immobilized ionic liquids showed high stability and could be reused ten times and used in a continuous flow reaction with a fixed-bed reactor for more than 120h without loss of catalytic activity.