Metal-Polyacrylic Acid Complex Aerogels for Efficient Cycloaddition of Co2 with Propylene Oxide

Abstract

The cycloaddition reaction of carbon dioxide with propylene oxide captures considerable attention owing to its environmentally friendly, economical and 100% atomic utilization characteristics. Homogeneous metal catalysts exhibit excellent performance in cycloaddition reactions, but their widespread application is limited by complicated preparation and recovery processes. It is therefore important to develop effective strategies to immobilize homogeneous catalysts, and more precisely, to immobilize active metal ions into solid carriers. Herein, we developed an innovative and universal strategy to immobilize metal ions through the complexation of metal ions with organic polymerization. The bifunctional ZnMn-PAA aerogels catalyst prepared using this strategy exhibited remarkable catalytic activity and stability in the cycloaddition of CO2 with PO. Mechanism studies revealed that the Zn and Mn central sites respectively enhanced the activation of PO and CO2, and the synergistic effect of bimetallic sites guaranteed to the excellent catalytic performance.

Keywords: Aerogels, carbon dioxide, cycloaddition, zinc, manganese.