Design and synthesis of pyridinamide functionalized ionic liquids for efficient conversion of carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates

Novel and facilely prepared 2-pyridinamide-functionalized ionic liquids 1–4 (PAIL1–4) were explored for the cycloaddition reaction of carbon dioxide with various epoxides to generate cyclic carbonates . The optimum temperature, CO 2 pressure, and catalyst dosage of the cycloaddition reaction, are 60 °C, 0.5 MPa, and 5 mol% respectively. The synthesized N, N -dimethyl- N -(2-oxo-2-(pyridin-2-ylamino)ethyl)butan-1-aminium iodide (PAIL-3) exhibited brilliant catalytic activities under mild conditions with nearly quantitative selectivity and conversion in the absence of any solvents, or metal co-catalysts. The catalyst PAIL-3 could be recycled 4 times without obvious loss of its catalytic activity. Moreover, a plausible mechanism is proposed based on the NMR experiments. The designed pyridinamide functionalized ionic liquids integrated pyridine unit, halogen anion and the N-H moiety in amide and they have an excellent synergistic catalytic effect in promoting the coupling reactions of carbon dioxide and epoxides.