A biopolymer mediated efficient synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and carbon dioxide

Abstract

A promising application of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), which is a congener of the cellulose family, as a supporting material for a variety of imidazolium based ionic liquid catalysts in the chemical fixation of CO₂ has been studied here. The ionic liquids immobilized on the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMIL) showed high catalytic activity and selectivity in the cycloaddition of carbon dioxide with propylene oxide (PO) resulting in propylene carbonate (PC) under mild and solvent free conditions. A new pathway was proposed based on the density functional theory (DFT) calculations performed at the B3LYP/6-31G (d,p) level, where the carboxyl and hydroxyl moieties on the CMC were found to act synergistically with the halide ions to eventuate in the cycloaddition reaction. The carboxyl group entities on the carboxymethyl cellulose support supposedly stabilize the product complex via strong hydrogen bonds, thereby promoting the reaction. The catalyst system also displayed good reusability.