The catalytic activity of ZIF-8 in the ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide without solvents or cocatalysts is presented for the first time. Two different synthetic strategies have been applied for synthesizing ZIF-8, either under solvothermal condition or by spray-drying procedure. Their catalytic activities are found to be correlating with the presence of open active sites in ZIF-8 structure. The structural defects that afford active acid and basic sites are supposed to cooperatively catalyze the reaction. ZIF-8 assembled by spray-drying technique, displays a superior catalytic activity at temperature of 160 °C, leading to the formation of high molecular weight cyclic polylactide. The ZIF-8 catalysts could be recycled and reused without any significant loss of catalytic activity.
Keywords: heterogeneous catalysis; metal-organic frameworks; polymerization; structural defects; zeolites.
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