To make cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides a viable non-redox CO2 fixation path, it is crucial to develop active, stable, selective, metal-free, reusable, and cost-effective catalysts. We recently reported several new structures based on imidazolinium and bisimidazolium functionalities that are synthesized from widely available chemicals. The porous catalysts exhibit quantitative conversion and selectivity for a range of substrates under ambient conditions and without the need for co-catalysts, metals, solvent, or pressure. They’re easily recyclable and demonstrated to retain complete retention of activity for over 15 cycles. Moreover, they’re scalable to at least a kg scale. We determined the reaction mechanisms using Quantum Mechanics (Density Functional Theory) showing that it involves Nucleophilic attack Driven Epoxide Ring opening (ND-ERO). This contrasts with the commonly assumed mechanism involving concerted addition of chemisorbed CO2.

Catalytic non-redox carbon dioxide fixation in cyclic carbonates

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.