Polymeric cation and isopolyanion ionic self-assembly: Novel thin-layer mesoporous catalyst for oxidative desulfurization

In this work, poly(ionic liquid)s (PIL), namely poly-[1-vinyl,3-alkylimidazolium] bromine (PVABr) with different length of monomer carbon chain have been synthesized and assembled with [β-Mo 8 O 26 ] 4− into novel interlinked thin-layer nano-wire mesoporous material. The resulting POM/PIL hybrids were characterized by different techniques and utilized to catalyze the oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of thiophenic compounds with H 2 O 2 as oxidant. Detailed experiments for ODS of synthesized diesel were carried out to investigate the influence of some important factors, including reaction temperature, molar ratio of H 2 O 2 /S, catalyst dosage and sulfide species. As for the desulfurization of hydrogenated diesel, it was observed that almost all of the original sulfur compounds in diesel could be completely converted and a further solvent extraction with methanol as extractant led to the deep sulfur removal. The catalyst could at least be reused for six times without noticeable changes in catalytic performance. The results demonstrate that the mesoporous isopolyanion-based polymeric hybrid is an efficient, durable and sustainable catalyst for ODS of diesel fuel.