Rapid synthesis of nanoscale double metal cyanide catalysts by ball milling for the cycloaddition of CO2 and propylene oxide

Ball milling as a green and rapid synthetic technique has shown potential in the preparation of double metal cyanide (DMC) catalyst, which exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the solvent-free cycloaddition of CO2 and propylene oxide (PO). Effective Zn-Fe DMC catalysts with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CAB) were successfully obtained via ball milling. The characterization of Zn-Fe DMCs confirmed that CAB was incorporated into the structure of DMC and the particle size ranges from 79 nm to a minimum of 25 nm. The DMC complex was proven to be an effective catalyst for the cycloaddition of CO2 and propylene oxide (PO) (140 degrees C, 3 MPa, 6 h). The cyclic carbonate exhibited high conversion from 88.9% to 98.3% with high selectivity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.