Copper ingrained poly(ethylene)glycols as cost effective and reusable media for selective 1-decene/n-decane separation

Abstract

Liquid range polyethylene glycols containing copper ions have been used as recyclable extractive media for the selective separation of 1-decene from a mixture of 1-decene and n-decane. The copper(II) ions in PEG were readily converted into copper(I) and then selectively coordinated with 1-decene molecules through π-complexation. The resulting polyethylene glycol phase containing copper–olefin complex was treated with n-heptane at 70–80 °C to obtain pure 1-decene and the recovered poly(ethylene)glycol containing copper ions was successfully reused for several runs.