Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5): 790-796.doi: 10.1007/s40242-023-3144-8

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Oxygen/Sulfur Atom Exchange Copolymerization of Carbon Disulfide and Propylene Oxide by a Highly Effective Heterogeneous Berlin Green Catalyst

Munir Ullah KHAN1, Safir Ullah KHAN3, CAO Xiaohan1, Muhammad USMAN4, Muhammad Naeem SHAH5, Abdul GHAFFAR6, Muhammad HASSAN6, ZHANG Chengjian1, ZHANG Xinghong1,2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Motor Vehicle Biofuel Technology, International Research Center for X Polymers, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P. R. China;
    2. Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi 030013, P. R. China;
    3. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at the Microscale, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, P. R. China;
    4. Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization (Ministry of Education), International Research Center for X Polymers, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P. R. China;
    5. College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P. R. China;
    6. Advanced Materials Research Center, Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute (ZJU-UIUC), Haining 314400, P. R. China
  • Received:2023-06-27 Online:2023-10-01 Published:2023-09-26
  • Contact: ZHANG Xinghong, ZHANG Chengjian E-mail:xhzhang@zju.edu.cn;chengjian.zhang@zju.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51973190), the Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology, China (Nos.2020R52006, 2022C01216) and the Fund of Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, China (No.2021SZ-TD003).

Abstract: In this study, we report that Berlin Green (FeFe-BG) framework exhibits superior performance in the catalytic coupling of carbon disulfide (CS2) and propylene oxide (PO) to generate a random copolymer containing thioether, propylene monothiocarbonate and ether units. Oxygen and sulfur atom exchange was detected in polymeric and cyclic thiocarbonate byproducts and utilized to modulate the copolymerization of CS2 and propylene oxide. The coupling of PO and CS2 was selective for copolymer formation under various reaction conditions. 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy determined two distinct polymer linkages and two cyclic byproducts. Copolymer number average molecular weights ranged from 6.4 kg/mol to 10.5 kg/mol, with a comparatively low polydispersity of 1.3-1.7. The CS2/PO molar feed ratio had a significant impact on the O/S exchange process; the ratio of cyclic thiocarbonate byproducts could be efficiently regulated by tuning the CS2 molar feed ratio.

Key words: Carbon disulfide, Copolymerization, Prussian Blue analogue, Heterogeneous catalysis, Berlin Green