The production of biobased monomers, the building blocks of green polymers, is of great interest in the context of chemical sustainability. In this respect, fatty-acid based cyclic carbonates, which incorporate CO2 as a renewable C1 synthon, are attractive synthetic target molecules and their potential as monomers for non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) has been highlighted.[1]Cyclic carbonate formation from olefins typically requires a two-step transformation, involving an epoxidation step followed by a carboxylation step. Epoxidation of a vast array of alkenes has been comprehensively investigated over the years. More recently, researchers have studied the conversion of epoxides to cyclic carbonates, with the majority of this work focused on converting terminal epoxides. A one-pot approach to olefin-to-cyclic carbonate conversion would hold obvious advantages from a green chemistry perspective. To date there has been a number of examples that use at least one homogenous catalyst; however, only one solely heterogeneous one-pot synthesis has been reported with a bifunctional catalyst that converts styrene to styrene carbonate, utilising gold nanoparticles and quaternary ammonium salts supported on a basic resin.[2]Here we report a novel, one-pot synthesis for the catalytic conversion of fatty acid methyl esters to cyclic carbonate-containing fatty acid methyl esters, Scheme 1. The effect of CO2 pressure and temperature on this tandem reaction has been investigated.[1] B�hr, M., Green Chem., 14 (2012) 483[2] Xiang, D., Catalysis Today, 148 (2009) 383

Catalysed tandem reactions for the production of cyclic carbonate-containing fatty acids

247th National Meeting (2014)

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