Synthesis of a hypercrosslinked, ionic, mesoporous polymer monolith and its application in deep oxidative desulfurization

In this study, we used a facile and scalable strategy to produce a hypercrosslinked, ionic, mesoporous polymer monolith (HCIMPM). On the basis of structure-directing polymeric crosslinking, the interconnected nanonetwork was formed through the in situ crosslinking of the homopolymer poly(vinyl imidazole) via a quaternization reaction, and its textural properties could be effectively adjusted by the block copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO20PPO70PEO20). The maximum specific surface area and pore volume were 212m(2)/g and 1.08cm(3)/g, respectively. Furthermore, the synthetic framework could be functionalized via the loading of PW12 O-40(3-) through ion exchange. The obtained HCIMPM with PW12O403- (PW-HCIMPM) was applied in the oxidative desulfurization, and approximately 100% sulfur removal could be achieved in the model oil with hydrogen peroxide (30 wt %) as an oxidant. Moreover, the solid catalyst could be recovered readily and recycled at least six times without a significant decrease in the desulfurization efficiency. As for real diesel, we also observed that almost all of the original sulfur compounds could be converted in 120min. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46280.