POLYANILINE DOPED WITH HETEROPOLYANIONS - SPECTROSCOPIC AND CATALYTIC PROPERTIES

Acid-base properties of heteropolyacids make it possible to introduce them quite easily into a polyaniline matrix via classical acid-base doping. The present work shows, that a new type of polymer-supported catalyst can be obtained in this way. It has been discovered that such catalysts are active in ethyl alcohol conversion. Of the two methods of synthesis studied, i.e. preparation of polyaniline and its protonation in two separate steps and the one-step procedure, the former results in more catalytically active products. This is presumably caused by the hindered diffusion of heteropolyanions between polymer chains in the former case. Thus, they stay mainly at the surface of the polymer matrix and are more easily accessible for the alcohol.