Highly efficient cycloaddition of diluted and waste CO2 into cyclic carbonates catalyzed by porous ionic copolymers.

• Mesoporous PIPs was prepared by the copolymerization of DVB with ILs. • PDVB-[AlTMG]Br-0.2 showed excellent activities in cycloaddition of diluted CO 2. • Various epoxides were converted into cyclic carbonates with high yields. It is believed that porous heterogeneous materials with excellent properties are promising candidates for efficient fixation of diluted and waste CO 2. Herein, a family of mesoporous porous ionic copolymers (PIPs) was designed and prepared from the copolymerization of divinylbenzene (DVB) with vinyl-functionalized ionic liquids monomers through free radical copolymerization process. It was demonstrated that the heterogeneous PIP poly(divinylbenzene-1-allyl-tetramethylguanidinium bromide) PDVB-[AlTMG]Br-0.2 showed excellent activities in facile cycloaddition of CO 2 into cyclic carbonates without using any external co-catalysts or metal additives. The results of characterizations and quantum mechanical calculations further showed that the specic hierarchical meso-macroporous structure of PDVB-[AlTMG]Br-0.2 offered the strongest binding interaction with SO and besides had a relatively good CO 2 affinity, which results to the best cataltic activity for cycloaddition of CO 2. Moreover, PDVB-[AlTMG]Br-0.2 exhibited high activities and good reusability in cycloaddition of 15 % diluted CO 2 with various epoxides. It is believed that our work would have a great potential in energy-effective fixation of industrial combustion CO 2 into high-value organic carbonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]