Three applications of green chemistry in engineering: (1) silylamines as reversible ionic liquids for carbon dioxide capture; (2) carbon dioxide as protecting group in chemical syntheses; (3) mitigating the thermal degradation of polyvinyl chloride

Abstract

Green chemistry principles served as a guide for three industrially-relevant projects. In the first project, silylamines were applied as reversible ionic liquids for carbon dioxide capture from post-combustion flue gas streams. The effect of silylamine structure was thoroughly researched to develop a comprehensive library of silylamines and an accompanying set of structure-property relationships. The proposed solvent systems have the potential to present significant energy savings, as design has focused on their use in a non-aqueous, solvent-free environment. The second project also dealt extensively with carbon dioxide capture, as a reversible, in-situ protecting group for amines. Three strategies for the reversible protection of amines using carbon dioxide were developed and evaluated. Further, a chemoselective reaction was performed using carbon dioxide to protect a reactive amine and consequentially direct reactivity elsewhere within the same molecule. The carbon dioxide-protection technology developed has significant impact in multi-step industrial syntheses, as reversible, in-situ protection with carbon dioxide could eliminate the need for separate protection and deprotection unit operations. Lastly, a study was performed on the thermal degradation and stabilization of PVC in the presence of both plasticizers and thermal stabilizers. The study combined both model compound experiments as well as work with bulk PVC blends to gain a holistic understanding of the processes that take place during the degradation and stabilization of PVC. A bio-based plasticizer was investigated as a replacement for petroleum-based phthalate plasticizers. Additionally, two novel thermal stabilizers for PVC were presented and evaluated.