Synthesis of Zn–Fe double metal cyanide complexes with imidazolium-based ionic liquid cocatalysts via ball milling for copolymerization of CO2 and propylene oxide

In this work, Zn-Fe double metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts were successfully synthesized via clean and efficient ball milling. Imidazolium-based ionic liquids as cocatalysts were incorporated into the structure of the DMC catalysts during the grinding process. The modified Zn-Fe DMC catalysts were effective for the alternating copolymerization of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide under controlled reaction conditions. The properties and structures of the Zn-Fe DMC catalysts and the resulting polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicate that the Zn-Fe DMC catalysts exhibit higher thermal stability compared to the DMC catalysts without imidazolium-based ionic liquids (DMC-Blank). We determined that the introduction of a small amount of imidazolium-based ionic liquids can increase the carbonate content of the poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) copolymer in the range of 18.48-29.00%. The turnover numbers of PPC were similar to 4.40. In addition, the measured number-average relative molecular mass was in the range of 2.96 x 10(3)-4.98 x 10(3) with a narrow polydispersity index of 1.00-1.08.