A novel supported salenCrIIICl catalyst for alternating copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide with carbon dioxide

•A new heterogeneous catalyst (MPOAP-salenCrIIICl) was successfully synthesized.•The MPOAP-salenCrIIICl was characterized by FT-IR, TEM, ICP, XRD, and XPS analyses.•Different conditions of MPOAP-salenCrIIICl were performed for optimizing.•The heterogeneous catalyst changed the microstructures of the copolymer.•Better selectivity and thermal stability were achieved using MPOAP-salenCrIIICl.

A novel heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by immobilizing salenCrIIICl on a modified poly (aniline-co-o-aminophenol) (MPOAP). The FT-IR, TEM, XRD, XPS and ICP results indicated that salenCrIIICl was successfully supported on MPOAP. The resulted catalyst (MPOAP-salenCrIIICl) exhibited excellent catalytic performance for alternating copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide (CHO) with carbon dioxide (CO2). Moreover, the supported catalyst had an obvious effect on the microstructures of the copolymerization and the obtained polymer was found to be a linear alternating copolymer with narrower molecular weight distribution. The TG and DTG results indicated that the product prepared by the supported catalyst possessed higher decomposition temperature.

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