Styrene polymerization efficiently catalyzed by iron-containing imidazolium-based ionic liquids: reaction mechanism and enhanced ionic liquid effect

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Iron-containing imidazolium-based ionic liquids were successfully applied as catalysts in the styrene polymerization. Solventless conditions, organic solvents and different imidazolium-based ionic liquid catalysts were tested to evaluate the best reaction conditions. The ionic liquids BMI.FeCl4 and BMI.Fe2Cl7 showed very distinct catalytic activities. Schulz-Flory distributions indicate two or three active catalytic species in different distributions. Via on-line direct infusion electrospray (tandem) mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(/MS)) reaction monitoring, both active catalytic species in accordance with the Schulz-Flory distributions were intercepted and characterized, providing important mechanistic insights that allowed us to propose a rationale for the origin of the superior catalytic efficiency. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Iron-containing imidazolium-based ionic liquids were successfully applied as catalysts in the styrene polymerization. Solventless conditions, organic solvents and different imidazolium-based ionic liquid catalysts were tested to evaluate the best reaction636673CAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFINEP - FINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOSFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOFCoordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)sem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçãoThis work has been supported by CAPES, CNPq, FINEP-MCT, FINATEC, FAPESP, FAPDF, and DPP-UnB. BAD Neto also thanks INCT-Transcend group and LNLS. We thank INMETRO and FINEP for the use of the mass spectromete