Insight into the activity of efficient acid-base bifunctional catalysts for the coupling reaction of CO2

The fixation of carbon dioxide with epoxide catalysed by a series of carboxylic acidic functionalised ionic liquids (ILs) catalysts is investigated by density functional theory method. Except for the catalysts reported by the experiment, the catalytic activity of a new designed catalyst (4c see Scheme 1) is also explored. These ILs are categorised into four groups according to the different cation structures and number of functional groups. The effects of different chain length, anion, and cation structure on the catalytic activity are explored. The elongation of alkyl chain length in cation will increase the product yield, while increasing the chain bulk has almost negligible effect on the enhancement of catalytic activity. Utilisation of imidazole group as the cation is better than pyridine group. And the cation with two functional groups will have a better catalytic activity than that with one functional group.