Novel polymer with ionic liquid moieties for biodiesel synthesis from waste oils

Abstract

A novel polymer with ionic liquid moieties was synthesized via a one-pot copolymerization and quaternization of 4-vinylpyridine, divinylbenzene and 1,2-dibromoethane. Then, acidic sites were introduced by ion-exchange. The acidic copolymer was applied to catalyze biodiesel synthesis from waste oils. The results show that the copolymer is very efficient for the reaction with a total yield of over 99% under mild conditions. The polymerization and quaternization were carried out simultaneously to form evenly dispersed ionic liquid moieties in the polymer matrix. The inlaid structure effectively prevents the bulky ionic liquid molecules blocking pores, which provides easily accessible active sites for reactants and results in high activity. The polymer combines the advantages of both ionic liquid and solid catalyst, and shows great potential in green chemistry.