In the first part of this project, 2,6-bis(5-amino-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl) pyridine as a novel diamine was prepared by reaction of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid and 1,2-phenylene diamine and was characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis, 1 H-NMR and 13 C-NMR spectroscopic methods. Then some new poly(benzimidazole-amide)s (PBA)s were synthesized by condensation polymerization of corresponding diamine and different commercial diacids. Optimized conditions based on time and amount of triphenylphosphite were investigated for polymerization. Chemical structure of synthesized polymers were characterized by FT-IR, 1 H-NMR, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The resulting PBAs exhibited good yields, high thermal stability and were soluble in polar aprotic organic solvent such as N,N -dimethyl acetamide (DMAc), N -methyl pyrolidone (NMP) and dimethyl sufoxide (DMSO). Due to existence of benzimidazole moieties in polymer’s structure, it is expected that the synthetic polymers tend to form complex with different metals. So in the next part of this project, the more soluble polymer, was used for preparing of novel PBA/Ni and PBA/Co nonocomposites. Corresponding nanocomposites were synthesized by formation of PBA/Ni 2+ and PBA/Co 2+ complexes then metal ions in structure of polymer were reduced to metal nanoparticles. Synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, XRD, FE-SEM and TEM. Morphological studies revealed that metal nanoparticles were dispersed in polymer matrix without any aggregation. Uniform dispersion of metal nanoparticles in polymer matrix make these nanocomposites good candidate for catalytic activation. So, in the third part of the project catalytic activity of corresponding nanocomposites were studied. PBA/Ni nanocomposite was used as catalyst in reduction of styrene with hydrazine (reaction was followed by gas chromatography (GC)). The results of reaction were compared with other similar works and showed good catalytic activity. PBA/Co nanocomposite also was used as catalyst in oxidation of ethyl benzene with tert-butyl hydro peroxide and was showed good catalytic activity in comparison with similar works.
