Novel type of heterogenized CuCl2 catalytic systems for oxidative carbonylation of methanol

Abstract

A novel type of heterogenized CuCl2 catalysts was designed for the oxidative carbonylation of methanol to dimethyl carbonate (DMC) taking account of the plausible reaction mechanism and intermediates. To prevent severe corrosion of the reaction equipment materials due to Cl− while keeping the catalytic activity of the homogeneous CuCl2 catalyst, we adopted, as supports (or ligands) of CuCl2, four polymers, bearing a 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) or pyridine (py) unit, namely, poly(2,2′-bipyridine-5,5′-diyl) (Pbpy), poly(pyridine-2,5-diyl) (Ppy), poly(N,N′-bisphenylene-2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-dicarboxylic amide) (Bpya), and poly(4-methyl-4′-vinyl-2,2′-bipyridine) (Pvbpy), together with one chelate compound, 8-quinolinol. The catalytic activity, stability of heterogenized CuCl2 and their corrosivities to stainless steels were examined in the liquid-phase reaction of the oxidative carbonylation of methanol. These polymer-supported catalysts showed considerable catalytic activity and stability for the DMC synthesis. In particular, the Pbpy-CuCl2 and Ppy-CuCl2 catalysts exhibited high DMC yields and selectivity comparable to those of the homogeneous CuCl2 catalyst. This high activity appears to be associated with the presence of the π-conjugated system in the polymers, which affect the redox reactions of Cu involved in the catalytic reaction. All of the polymer-supported CuCl2 catalysts could be easily recycled after filtration, and the initial catalytic activity was maintained after three times of use. The corrosive characters of the catalysts were closely related to CuCl2 leaching from the supports, which reflects the ability of supports to coordinate Cu. These experimental results suggest that both the electronic structure and the coordination ability of the polymer supports are key factors for the development of an effective catalytic system.