Carbon dioxide capture and utilization: using dinuclear catalysts to prepare polycarbonates.

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Catalysis
• Green Chemistry

Background:

• Epoxide copolymerization with CO2 is vital for producing valuable polycarbonate polyols.
• Efficient catalysts are needed to drive these reactions under industrially relevant conditions.
• Understanding the impact of common contaminants is crucial for CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide and vinyl-cyclohexene oxide with carbon dioxide.
• To evaluate a homogeneous di-zinc complex as a catalyst for polycarbonate polyol synthesis.
• To assess the influence of water, diols, and diamines on the polymerization process.

Main Methods:

• Homogeneous catalysis using a di-zinc complex.
• Copolymerization reactions of epoxides (cyclohexene oxide, vinyl-cyclohexene oxide) with carbon dioxide.
• Analysis of reaction products and selectivities for polycarbonate polyols.

Main Results:

• The di-zinc catalyst demonstrated good activity and high selectivity for polycarbonate polyol formation.
• The presence of exogenous reagents (water, diols, diamines) was studied as potential contaminants.
• The catalyst's performance under varying conditions provides insights into practical CCU applications.

Conclusions:

• Di-zinc complexes are effective catalysts for synthesizing polycarbonate polyols from epoxides and CO2.
• The study highlights the importance of catalyst robustness in the presence of common contaminants for CCU.
• This research contributes to developing efficient and selective processes for CO2 utilization.