Graphene oxide immobilized copper phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide: The first heterogenized homogeneous catalyst for dimethylcarbonate synthesis from CO2 and methanol

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/c4ta03420a

The first successful synthesis of DMC directly from methanol and carbon dioxide using a heterogenized homogeneous graphene oxide immobilized copper phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide catalyst in the presence of N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) as a dehydrating agent is described. The presence of a dehydrating agent was found to be vital and in its absence the yield of DMC was found to be decreased significantly. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the maximum yield of DMC reaches up to 13.3%. Although the homogeneous copper phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide catalyst provided a little higher yield of DMC (14.2%), the facile recovery and recycling ability of the heterogeneous catalyst make the developed method more attractive from environmental and economical viewpoints.

Full text of DOI:10.1039/c4ta03420a

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Materials Chemistry A
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Graphene oxide immobilized copper
phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide: the first
heterogenized homogeneous catalyst for
dimethylcarbonate synthesis from CO2 and
methanol†
Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2,
18861
*
Subodh Kumar, Pawan Kumar and Suman L. Jain
The first successful synthesis of DMC directly from methanol and carbon dioxide using a heterogenized
homogeneous graphene oxide immobilized copper phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide catalyst in the
presence of N,N0-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) as a dehydrating agent is described. The presence of a
dehydrating agent was found to be vital and in its absence the yield of DMC was found to be decreased
significantly. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the maximum yield of DMC reaches up to 13.3%.
Although the homogeneous copper phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide catalyst provided a little higher
yield of DMC (14.2%), the facile recovery and recycling ability of the heterogeneous catalyst make the
developed method more attractive from environmental and economical viewpoints.
Received 4th July 2014
Accepted 24th August 2014
DOI: 10.1039/c4ta03420a
www.rsc.org/MaterialsA
from carbon dioxide and methanol under mild reaction
conditions. Various homogeneous catalysts, such as dialkytin
Introduction
dialkoxides, tin(IV) tetralkoxides, titanium(IV) tetralkoxides,
bases and thallium(I) hydroxide have been reported for the
synthesis of DMC from CO2 and methanol.23–28 However, these
methods are associated with certain drawbacks such as diffi-
culty in catalyst recovery, severe reaction conditions and rapid
deactivation of the catalyst by process excursions. Subsequently,
a number of heterogeneous catalysts such as CeO2–ZrO2, Ga2O3/
Ce0.6Zr0.4O2, H3PO4/ZrO2, Co1.5PW12O40, H3PW12O40/CexTi1ꢀxO2,
Cu–Ni–diatomite, Cu–Ni–graphite, and Cu–Ni–V2O5–SiO2 have
been reported.29–36 However, rapid deactivation, leaching of
metals and poor conversion of methanol to DMC are the major
drawbacks associated with these methods.
The above-mentioned drawbacks of homogeneous and
heterogeneous catalysts can be solved by heterogenizing the
efficient homogeneous catalysts to a suitable solid support
matrix. These heterogenized homogeneous catalysts are
advantageous as they combine the best qualities of both
heterogeneous (easy recovery and recyclability) and homoge-
neous catalysts (high reactivity and selectivity). Furthermore,
these heterogenized homogeneous catalysts hold promise for
bridging the gap between industrial catalysts, which carry out
simple reactions. In this regard a number of organic and inor-
ganic materials have been used as a support to immobilize the
homogeneous catalysts.37–40
Every day, a huge amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted as a
result of fossil fuel combustion and is accumulated in the
atmosphere which in turn is responsible for global warming.
Many ways have been proposed to reduce the concentration of
CO2 in the atmosphere. One of the most promising approaches
to achieve this target is the utilization of carbon dioxide to value
added chemicals which has received considerable interest in
recent decades.1–3 CO2 can be used as a carbon feedstock for the
production of useful chemicals such as dimethyl carbonate
(DMC), polycarbonates, carbamates, etc. Among these reaction
processes, the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from CO2 and
methanol is of tremendous importance due to its versatile
applications such as an electrolytic solution of lithium ion
batteries, as a methylating reagent, and as a feedstock for
engineering plastics.4–8 In addition, DMC is considered to be an
environmentally friendly oxygenated fuel additive due to its
high octane number, low toxicity and biodegradability.9,10 The
conventional method for DMC synthesis involving phosgene
and methanol has fallen out of use due to the high toxicity and
severe corrosivity of phosgene.11,12 Subsequently, two processes
i.e. the ester exchange process and the oxidative carbonylation
of methanol have extensively been used for DMC synthesis.13–22
The more challenging method is the synthesis of DMC directly
Recently, graphene oxide (GO) due to the presence of plenty
of oxygenic functionalities such as hydroxyl and epoxide groups
on both sides of its surface has been acknowledged as one of the
Chemical Sciences Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, India.
E-mail: suman@iip.res.in; Fax: +91-135-2660202; Tel: +91-135-2525788
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI:
10.1039/c4ta03420a
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most promising supports to immobilize various homogeneous
materials including transition metal complexes.41–44
In the present paper we report the rst successful synthesis
of dimethyl carbonate directly from CO2 and methanol using
graphene oxide immobilized copper phthalocyanine tetrasul-
phonamide (GO–CuPcS) in the presence of a dehydrating agent
(DCC) under mild reaction conditions (Scheme 1). To the best of
our knowledge this is the rst report on the use of a hetero-
genized homogeneous catalyst for DMC synthesis.
Synthesis and characterization of the
catalyst
Graphene oxide, a two dimensional sheet having oxygen func-
tionalities such as –OH, –COOH and epoxide groups on its
surface, provided a facile immobilization of copper phthalocy-
anine tetrasulphonamide (CuPcS) via covalent attachment.
Graphene oxide sheets were initially modied by the reaction of
chloroacetic acid and NaOH under sonication to convert all
their oxygen containing functional groups to –COOH. The
synthesized material was subsequently treated with sulphonyl
chloride (SOCl2) followed by the addition of the CuPcS complex
to give heterogeneous GO–CuPcS as shown in Scheme 2.
Scheme 2 Synthesis of GO–CuPcS catalyst 2.
The synthesized heterogeneous catalyst 2 was characterized
by various techniques such as FTIR, TEM, Raman, XRD and TGA
analyses. The FTIR spectrum of homogeneous CuPcS (Fig. 1a)
reveals its characteristic vibration at 510 cmꢀ1, 715 cmꢀ1 and
902 cmꢀ1 respectively. The peak at 3170 cmꢀ1 is due to the –N–H
of sulphonamide and peaks at 1024 cmꢀ1, 1398 cmꢀ1, and 1619
cmꢀ1 are related to the C–H, C]N and the pyrrole ring of
phthalocyanine. The FTIR spectrum of GO (Fig. 1b) shows the
characteristic peaks at 1031 cmꢀ1, 1374 cmꢀ1, 1725 cmꢀ1 and
1161.4 cmꢀ1 corresponding to the C–OH, alkoxy C–O stretch,
C]O– and –C–C– bending vibrations respectively. Changes in
the FTIR spectrum aer the immobilization of CuPcS on gra-
phene oxide can be clearly seen in Fig. 1c. The shiing of the
carbonyl (C]O) peak of GO from 1725 cmꢀ1 to 1720 cmꢀ1 and
the appearance of a new band at 1575 cmꢀ1 due to N–H suggest
that the CuPcS has been successfully graed onto the GO
support. Furthermore, the appearance of some peaks corre-
CuPcS complex on the GO support. Further in Fig. 2b, the
folding of sheets appears to be increased because of the p cloud
interaction between phthalocyanine and GO sheets. The
Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED) pattern shows that the
synthesized material is amorphous in nature and the number of
rings in the SAED pattern indicates that the sheets are probably
two to three layers in thickness. Furthermore the EDX analysis
clearly indicates the presence of copper in the synthesized
heterogeneous material 2 (Fig. 2d).
XRD patterns are used to study the changes in the structure
(Fig. 3). The XRD spectrum of GO in Fig. 3a shows a charac-
teristic diffraction peak at 10.8ꢁ corresponding to the 001 plane.
Aer immobilization of CuPcS, this peak disappeared and
another broad diffraction peak of graphite (002) at 2q value
sponding to the phthalocyanine ring vibration at 1378 cmꢀ1
,
1122 cmꢀ1 and 620 cmꢀ1 further indicates the covalent
attachment of CuPcS to the GO support.
The morphology and structure of as-prepared GO and
GO–CuPcS catalysts were investigated via transmission electron
microscopy (TEM). As presented in Fig. 2a, the TEM image of
GO shows transparent stacked sheets having well dened edges.
The TEM image of GO–CuPcS (Fig. 2b) shows evenly distributed
dark spots, which are probably due to the attachment of the
Scheme 1 Synthesis of DMC.
Fig. 1 FTIR of (a) CuPcS; (b) GO; (c) GO–CuPcS.
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Fig. 4 Raman spectra of (a) GO; (b) GO–CuPcS.
number of small graphitic aromatic domains evolved on the
surface of graphene oxide, which gives rise to a more conjugated
aromatic system than that in graphene oxide (GO). This
assumption was further conrmed by the shiing of the G band
of GO–CuPcS from 1592 cmꢀ1 to 1589 cmꢀ1 that was nearly the
same as the G band of pure graphite. Further the ID/IG value was
found to be decreased to 0.75, indicating the successful
attachment of CuPcS to the GO support.
Fig. 2 TEM images of (a) GO; (b) GO–CuPcS; and (c) SAED pattern of
GO–CuPcS; (d) EDX pattern.
Fig. 5 shows the TGA curves of the as prepared CuPcS, GO
and GO–CuPcS, respectively. The TGA of CuPcS (Fig. 5a) shows a
small weight loss nearly at 100 ꢁC which is due to the adsorbed
water or otheꢁr solvent molecules. Another small weight loss
nearly at 175 C is attributed to the degradation of sulphona-
mide functionalities of CuPcS. The subsequent major and sharp
weight loss, observed at 375 ꢁC, is attributed to the degradation
of the phthalocyanine ring structure. The thermogram of GO
(Fig. 5b) shows an initial weight loss nearly at 108 ꢁC, evidently
Fig. 3 XRD diffractograms of (a) GO and (b) GO–CuPcS.
ꢂ26ꢁ appeared. This further conrms that the exfoliation of the
layered GO–CuPcS is obtained (Fig. 3b).11
Fig. 4a and b show the Raman spectra of GO and GO–CuPcS
respectively. As shown in Fig. 4a, two characteristics bands i.e.
the D band (1353 cmꢀ1) and the G band (1592 cmꢀ1) are of
nearly equal intensity. The D band is observed due to the large
numbers of defects in the form of sp3 carbons in GO sheets.
However the G band is observed due to the sp2 carbons of
aromatic rings and in-plane vibration of sp2 carbon bonded
atoms. The integral intensity ratio of D and G bands (ID/IG) was
found to be 1.0 which indicates a large number of defects in GO
in the form of epoxide and other oxygen containing function-
alities. In comparison to GO, in GO–CuPcS a very small shi of
D and G bands towards lower frequency was observed. This is
most likely due to the attachment of complex molecules a
Fig. 5 DT-TGA thermograms of (a) CuPcS; (b) GO; (c) GO–CuPcS.
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owing to the evaporation of water molecules which are held in conditions. The results of these experiments are shown in Table 1.
the material. The second signicant weight loss, observed in the Among the various catalysts studied, copper phthalocyanine
range of 180–240 ꢁC, is attributed to the thermal decomposition tetrasulphonamide was found to be the best and gave the
of oxygen carrying functionalities. The thermogram of highest yield of DMC (Table 1, entry 5). Iron, cobalt and nickel
GO–CuPcS (Fig. 5c) shows an exothermic major weight loss over phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamides showed moderate activity
a wide range of temperature (300–500 ꢁC) due to the slow and provided a moderate yield of DMC (Table 1, entry 2–4).
decomposition of the phthalocyanine moieties which further However zinc phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide was found to
indicates that the synthesized heterogeneous catalyst is be less effective and provided a poor yield of DMC (Table 1,
adequately thermally stable.
entry 6) even aer a prolonged reaction time (6 h). The exact
The loading of CuPcS onto the GO support was determined reason for the enhanced catalytic activity of the copper based
by estimating the copper content via inductively coupled catalyst is not known, however, it has been reported that acti-
plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and was found vation of methanol and CO2 by basic sites and supply of the
to be 1.2 wt% (0.18 mmol gꢀ1).
methyl species from methanol by acidic sites are important
steps in the direct synthesis of DMC from methanol and
CO2.45,46 The interaction of the methanol O atom with a coor-
dinately unsaturated Lewis acid center of the catalyst results in
weakening of the C–O bond and produces a methyl cation
Catalytic activity of GO–CuPcS for
DMC synthesis
+
(CH3+). Finally the activated CH3 reacts with the intermediate
The catalytic activity of the prepared heterogeneous GO–CuPcS
2 was tested for the synthesis of DMC directly from the reaction
of carbon dioxide and methanol in the presence of a dehy-
drating agent (DCC) at 110 ꢁC and 25 bar pressure of CO2 for 2.5
h. The experiments were carried out in a stainless steel 15 ml
autoclave under stirring. Aer completion of the reaction, the
vessel was cooled to room temperature and the catalyst was
separated by ltration. The resulting reaction mixture was
analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The maximum yield of DMC under
the optimized reaction conditions was found to be 13.3%
(Table 1, entry 1). In order to compare the catalytic activity of the
heterogeneous catalyst with its homogeneous analogue, we
carried out the synthesis of DMC from methanol and CO2 using
homogeneous CuPcS as the catalyst under the described
experimental conditions. The reaction was found to be a little
faster and afforded 14.2% yield of DMC in 2.5 h (Table 1,
entry 5). However, facile recovery and efficient recycling ability
of the heterogeneous catalyst make the developed method more
promising from industrial viewpoints. We also investigated the
catalytic activity of various metal phthalocyanine tetrasulpho-
namides (MPcS) such as Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn for the synthesis
of DMC from methanol and CO2 under similar reaction
CH3OCOOꢀ to give the desired DMC. As given by the Irving–
Wiliams series, the Lewis acidity of the divalent metal ions is in
the order of Mn < Fe < Co < Ni < Cu > Zn.47 Based on this we can
presume that the higher acidity of the copper ions may help in
activating the methanol which in turn enhances the activity for
DMC synthesis.
The presence of a dehydrating agent was found to be vital
and in its absence a lower yield of DMC (5.1%) was obtained
(Table 1, entry 7). It is most likely due to the reverse decom-
position of DMC in the presence of water. In the case of
unsubstituted copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), the yield of DMC
was found to be lower (Table 1, entry 8). This is probably due to
the non-solubility of CuPc in organic solvents like methanol or
the absence of NH2 moieties which are required to provide
basicity to activate methanol to give methoxy ion species.
However, in heterogenized homogeneous catalysts, the catalyst
in solution behaves like a homogeneous one with the additional
benets of facile recovery and recyclability. No DMC formation
occurred when the reaction was performed using GO as the
catalyst or in the absence of any catalyst under identical
experimental conditions (Table 1, entry 9–10).
Besides these experiments, we also investigated the effect of
temperature and pressure on the carboxylation of methanol
under identical reaction conditions (Fig. 6). At ambient
temperature (25 ꢁC), the reaction rate was found to be slow and
depended mainly on the CO2 pressure applied. The observed
conversion of methanol to DMC was found to increase with the
pressure of CO2. Among the various conditions studied,
Table 1 DMC synthesis using different catalystsa
Dehydrating
agent
Entry Catalyst
Time (h) Yieldb (%) Select. (%)
1
GO–Cu-PcS DCC
2.5
2.5
4
4
4
2.5
6
2.5
4
4
4
13.3c
5.5c
5.1
6.6
7.4
14.2
2.3
5.1
2.7
—
98
90
90
95
98
98
98
91
89
—
—
ꢁ
temperature110 C and CO2 pressure 25 bar were found to be
GO–CuPcS
Fe-PcS
Co-PcS
Ni-PcS
Cu-PcS
Zn-PcS
Cu-PcS
Cu-Pc
GO
—
optimum for the maximum yield of DMC. Further increase in
temperature (120 ꢁC) affects the reaction adversely and affords a
poor yield of DMC.
Further, the recycling of the developed heterogeneous cata-
lyst 2 was investigated (Fig. 7). Aer completion of the reaction,
the catalyst was separated by ltration and subjected to the next
run under identical reaction conditions. The recovered catalyst
was tested for subsequent ve runs. During these experiments,
the yield of DMC remained almost the same, indicating that the
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
DCC
DCC
DCC
DCC
DCC
—
DCC
DCC
DCC
10
—
—
a
Reaction conditions: methanol (6 ml), catalyst (0.04 g), at 110 ꢁC, 25
bar pressure of CO2. b Isolated yield of DMC. c Catalyst (0.2 g).
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leaching during the reaction and was truly heterogeneous in
nature.
Last but not least, we have compared the catalytic activity of
the developed catalyst with the literature known methods
(Table 2). As shown, the developed catalyst provided compa-
rable or a higher yield of DMC with the added benets of easy
accessibility, high stability and efficient recycling of the catalyst.
Conclusions
We have demonstrated the rst successful synthesis of DMC
directly from methanol and carbon dioxide using a hetero-
genized homogeneous graphene oxide immobilized copper
phthalocyanine tetrasulphonamide catalyst in the presence of a
dehydrating agent. Under the optimized reaction conditions i.e.
110 ꢁC temperature and 25 bar CO2 pressure the maximum yield
of DMC was obtained as 13.3% in 2.5 h. The developed
heterogeneous catalyst exhibited slightly lower activity than its
homogeneous analogue; however the facile recovery and effi-
cient recycling of the heterogeneous catalyst make the devel-
oped methodology superior and advantageous from industrial
viewpoints. The developed catalyst did not exhibit any leaching
as determined by ICP-AES analysis. The copper content in the
recovered catalyst aer ve runs was found to be 2.38% which
was almost similar to the fresh one (2.4%). To the best of our
knowledge this is the rst example of a heterogenized homo-
geneous catalyst for DMC synthesis from methanol and CO2.
We believe that our nding will be useful to the scientic
community for real life application of this catalyst for control-
ling the ever increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Fig. 6 Effect of temperature and pressure on the yield of DMC by
using (a) CuPcS; (b) GO–CuPcS.
Acknowledgements
Fig. 7 Recycling of the GO–CuPcS for DMC synthesis.
We kindly acknowledge the Director, CSIR-IIP for his kind
permission to publish these results. SK and PK are thankful to
CSIR, New Delhi for their research fellowships. The Analytical
Division of the Institute is kindly acknowledged for providing
support in analysis of samples. DST, New Delhi is kindly
acknowledged for nancial assistance.
developed catalyst can be recycled for several runs without a
signicant loss in catalytic activity.
To check the leaching of the metal during the reaction, the
recovered catalyst as obtained aer ve runs was subjected to
ICP-AES analysis. The copper content in the recovered catalyst
was found to be (2.38%), which is almost similar to the fresh
one (2.4%). These studies suggested that the catalyst had no
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Entry
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