Vinyl-Functionalized Poly(imidazolium)s: A Curable Polymer Platform for Cross-Linked Ionic Liquid Gel Synthesis

The synthesis and characterization of the first examples of reactive/curable poly(RTIL)s that contain radically cross-linkable N-vinylimidazolium side groups was studied. Crosslinked poly(RTIL)/RTIL gels can be formed using these curable poly(RTIL)s via two different routes, cross-linking a curable poly(RTIL)/RTIL blend and cross-linking a neat curable poly(RTIL) and then swelling the resulting network with RTIL. It was found that cross-linked gels containing high RTIL loadings can be prepared from both approaches and that the CO2/light gas separation performance of these composites is comparable to those formed by prior methods. These curable poly(RTIL)s also exhibit faster gelling rates and less solution penetration into porous supports compared to cross-linkable RTIL monomer systems. As bulk materials, these cross-linked poly(RTIL)/RTIL gels have shown good stability with respect to RTIL phase separation and reduced leaching into porous supports.