Construction of reversible nano reactor by thermo-responsive polymeric surfactant: Its application in chloromethylation of naphthalene

• Published in: Journal of environmental chemical engineering Vol. 7; no. 2; p. 103034
• Main Authors: Wang, Ze-Ming, Li, Min-Hao, Feng, Lei, Zhou, Hong-Yong, Wang, Jia-Xi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2019
• Subjects: Chloromethylation; Micelle catalyst; Polyethylene glycol (PEG); Quaternary ammonium; Thermo-responsive; Quaternary ammonium; Chloromethylation; Thermo-responsive; Micelle catalyst; Polyethylene glycol (PEG)
• ISSN: 2213-3437; 2213-3437
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2019.103034

[Display omitted] This study focuses on the construction of a reversible nano reactor based on the thermo-responsive property of polyethylene glycol side chain hanging on the main chain of polystyrene along with quaternary ammonium groups. The polystyrene derivates are obtained by polymerization of vinylbenzyl PEG ether and/or vinylbenzyl quaternary ammonium. The vinylbenzyl PEG ether and vinylbenzyl quaternary ammonium were prepared by the reaction of vinylbenzyl chloride with diol and trimethylamine. The structure of vinylbenzyl derivate was characterized by 1H NMR, FT-IR, UV–vis and Q-TOF mass spectroscopy. The micelle properties of polymers were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy and optical microscope. The micelle catalytic activities were evaluated using the chloromethylation of naphthalene as the model. The conversion of naphthalene is up to 93% at the optimized reaction condition using the polystyrene with PEG-like side chains and quaternary ammonium P(3-4) as the micelle catalyst. The catalyst can be isolated just by separation of the interlayer between the organic phase and water phase, and recycled six time without significant activity loss.