The synthesis of ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) is of paramount importance for the lithium-ion battery industry as electrolytes. Herein, we present a series of swellable poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) functionalized with phenol anions, aiming at inducing effective catalysis in EMC production through the transesterification of ethanol (EtOH) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The obtained PILs catalysts exhibit remarkable EMC yields of 57.0% and selectivity of 86.7%, coupled with robustness and facile reusability under mild conditions. By establishing a correlation between the swelling degree of PILs and the yield of EMC, and by a theoretical calculation on the energy and electrostatic potential changes of [CPIL-Tr][PhO] during its reaction with EtOH and DMC, we show that these impressive catalytic performances arise from efficient proton dissociation of EtOH by phenol anion and accelerated transportation of reactants by swelling cationic backbone. This research endeavors to provide an appealing platform for the industrial-scale production of EMC.

中文翻译：

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聚（离子液体）的可调节溶胀特性，用于高产率和选择性强化催化合成碳酸甲乙酯


碳酸甲乙酯（EMC）的合成作为电解质对于锂离子电池行业至关重要。在此，我们提出了一系列用苯酚阴离子功能化的可溶胀聚（离子液体）（PIL），旨在通过乙醇（EtOH）和碳酸二甲酯（DMC）的酯交换反应在EMC生产中诱导有效催化。所获得的 PIL 催化剂表现出显着的 EMC 产率（57.0%）和选择性（86.7%），并且在温和条件下具有鲁棒性和易于重复使用性。通过建立 PIL 的溶胀度与 EMC 产率之间的相关性，并通过对 [CPIL-Tr][PhO] 在与 EtOH 和 DMC 反应过程中的能量和静电势变化的理论计算，我们表明这些令人印象深刻的反应催化性能源自酚阴离子对乙醇的有效质子解离以及通过膨胀阳离子主链加速反应物的传输。本研究致力于为 EMC 的工业规模生产提供一个有吸引力的平台。