An immobilized copper Schiff base tridentate complex was prepared in three steps from SBA-15 supports. The immobilized copper nanocatalyst (heterogeneous catalyst) was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), cross polarization magic angle spinning (CP-MAS), 13-carbon nuclear magnetic resonance ( 13 C-NMR), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and N 2 -physisorption. Moreover, morphological and structural features of the immobilized nanocatalyst were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction spectrometry (PXRD). After characterizing the nanocatalyst, the catalytic activity was determined in hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) decomposition. The high decomposition yield of H 2 O 2 was obtained for low-loaded copper content materials at pH 7 and at room temperature. Furthermore, the nanocatalyst exhibited high activity and stability under the investigated conditions, and could be recovered and reused for at least five consecutive times without any significant loss in activity. No copper leaching was detected during the reaction by AAS measurements.

25 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the main gases that cause the Greenhouse Effect. As a way to attenuate this damage, CO2 could be used as a building block for copolymerization reactions; precisely as C1 feedstock (monomer of the reaction) and as the pressurizing gas in these copolymerization reactions. The required monomer that was involved in the reactions was propylene oxide (PO) that possesses great reactivity, enabling the CO2 bonding. Through the mechanism of Ring Opening Polymerization (ROP), the incorporation of CO2 in the polymer chain can be possible. During this research, two different types of heterogeneous catalysts were used for the copolymerization reactions. Zinc glutarate (ZnGA) and Double Metal Cyanide (DMC) were selected as possible suitable catalysts to perform the reactions. The goal of this PhD thesis was to study these heterogeneous catalysts in copolymerization reactions between PO and CO2 in order to understand how the catalyst and the process can be improved for a possible future industrial application. To characterize the catalysts, several techniques were used such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR and FTIR with pyridine), Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP), Light scattering (with air and distilled water), Nitrogen-Physisorption, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry (TGA-MS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD).