Potassium coordination polymer complex containing tetrazolyl ligand

Abstract

A novel potassium complex, [K2L2(H2O)MeOH]n (1), was prepared by reacting KOH and a substituted tetrazolyl ligand LH (LH = 1-[5-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2H-tetrazol-2-yl]-2-methyl-2-propanol). The prepared complex was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and mass analysis and its solid-state structure was determined to be a high dimensional coordination polymer by X-ray crystallography. The synthesized potassium coordination polymer 1 was used as a catalyst for the cycloaddition of CO2 to propylene oxide and is the first potassium coordination polymer to be used for this purpose. The prepared catalyst provided high selectivity toward cyclic propylene carbonate (>99%) and showed considerable activity despite the heterogeneous reaction condition.