ABSTRACT Proposal Number: CTS-9414672 P.I.: P.K. Lim The principle investigator is presenting the research findings of an NSF-sponsored project at the "Mr. Clean" Conference that is to be held at Spartanburg, SC on April 27-29. The goal is to effect the commercial adoption of a new synthesis technique that is environmentally benign. The new synthesis technique is based on research, entitled "Oil-Water Interfacial Synthesis as a Benign and Safer Alternative to Conventional Liquid-Phase Syntheses," that has been funded by the NSF. The interfacial reaction technique avoids the need for toxic or hazardous solvents by using an innocuous oil-water mixture in conjunction with a surface-active catalyst complex. A surface-active ligand is used to draw the catalyst to the oil-water interface, where the catalyst effects the reaction and where it can also be recovered. The new technique differs from conventional phase-transfer reaction technique in that the reaction occurs at the interface, rather than in one of the bulk phases. Aside from being environmentally benign, the interfacial synthesis technique also offers the advantages of easy catalyst recovery, high reactivity and selectivity that is normally associated with homogenous catalysis, and ease of operation. The new technique has been successfully demonstrated on the coupling polymerization of 2, 6-dimethylphenol. high molecular-weight poly (phenylene oxide) has been obtained in a high yield (>85%) under mild reaction conditions. Detailed kinetic results will be presented at the conference.
