Effective synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides catalyzed by KI/cucurbit[6]uril

Abstract

The development of efficient, inexpensive, and nontoxic catalysts for cycloaddition of CO 2 with epoxides to produce five-membered cyclic carbonates is a very interesting topic. In this work, cycloaddition of CO 2 with propylene oxide (PO) to produce propylene carbonate (PC) catalyzed by potassium halides (KCl, KBr, and KI) in the presence of cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) was studied at various conditions. It was discovered that the potassium halides and CB[6] had excellent synergetic effect in promoting the reaction, and the KI/CB[6] catalytic system was the most efficient among them. The decrease of the activity and selectivity of KI/CB[6] was negligible after the catalytic system was reused five times. Further study indicated that the KI/CB[6] catalytic system was also very active and selective for the cycloaddition of CO 2 with other epoxides, such as glycidyl phenyl ether, epichlorohydrin, and styrene oxide. The mechanism for the synergetic effect of KI and CB[6] was also discussed.