Imidazolium-based ionic liquid decorated zinc porphyrin catalyst for converting CO2 into five-membered heterocyclic molecules

Abstract

An imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) functionalized zinc porphyrin catalyst was successfully synthesized for the first time, and was employed as an efficient catalyst for CO₂ transformation including both the chemoselective synthesis of cyclic carbonates from various epoxides and the regioselective synthesis of 5-aryl-2-oxazolidinones from N-substituted aziridines. Detailed studies demonstrated that the intramolecular cooperative effect between the coordinated zinc center (electrophile) and flexible bromine anions (nucleophile) could mediate these reactions effectively under solvent-free and mild conditions. More importantly, the IL-based catalyst could be readily recovered by solvent precipitation and reused with retention of high activity and selectivity more than ten times based on the concept of “one-phase catalytic coupling with two-phase separation”.